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SIMPLE STUDIES 

IN 

MATTHEW ~L 

"THE BOOK OF THE GENERATION OF 

JESUS CHRIST, 

THE SON OF DAVID, 

THE SON OF ABRAHAM." 



By William L. Peftingill 



FIRST EDITION 



1910 

Published by 

FRED. KELKER 

P. O. Box 216, Harrisburg, Pa. 

U. S. A. 



•#3* 






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Copyright, 1910. 

By FRED KELKER, 

Harrisburg, Pa. 



©CI. A 2 781 6 7 






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INTRODUCTORY 



Much has been said and written on the ques- 
tion as to why we have four Gospels instead of 
one. It is a proper question and one which we 
should consider carefully and reverently, for the 
Spirit of God in producing the Scriptures has 
done nothing at random. And the answer to our 
question is to be found in the Scriptures. 

In the Tabernacle of Moses set up in the wil- 
derness according to the pattern shown to him 
in the holy mount, and in the Temple which af- 
terwards replaced the Tabernacle, the Holy of 
Holies where God dwelt was separated from the 
other parts of the structure by a great vail or 
curtain. This vail always remained closed, bar- 
ring the way of approach to God's presence, ex- 
cept on the annual Day of Atonement, when the 
High Priest entered, though not without blood, 
for his own sins and the sins of the people. 

This vail, according to the testimony of Scrip- 
ture itself, was a type of Jesus Christ in His 
manifestation as Son of Man and Son of God; 
the living Word, Who became flesh and dwelt 
among men. When He was crucified on Cal- 
vary, outside the walls of Jerusalem, the vail in 
the Temple was rent in twain from the top to 
the bottom, thus signifying that by His death the 
way into God's presence is open to all who come 
through the Son. Therefore, we are exhorted 

7 



8 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

to come boldly, being assured of acceptance in 
the Beloved. Under the Old Covenant it would 
have been sure death for us to enter the Holy of 
Holies, but now it is sure death to remain with- 
out. It is on this account that the Apostle writes 
in Hebrews 10: 19-22: "Having therefore, breth- 
ren, boldness to enter into the Holiest by the 
blood of Jesus, by a new and living Way, which 
He hath consecrated for us, through the vail, 
that is to say, His flesh; and having an High 
Priest over the house of God; let us draw near 
with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, hav- 
ing our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, 
and our bodies washed with pure water." 

All this makes the vail very interesting to us, 
for it is, in a figure, the person of Christ. 

The vail was hung upon four pillars of shittim 
wood overlaid with gold. There were four sock- 
ets of silver for the pillars, and the vail was at- 
tached to the pillars by hooks of gold. Upon the 
vail were embroidered figures of cherubim, and 
because the vail itself is a type of Christ in the 
flesh, we assume that the cherubim must have 
some definite relation to Him. There were also 
other cherubim with outstretched wings over- 
shadowing the mercy-seat within the Holy of 
Holies; and it was here, between the cherubim, 
that God appeared, "in the cloud upon the mercy- 
seat." 

The cherubim appear elsewhere in Scripture, 
and always in connection with the manifestation 
of the glory of God. In Ezekiel and in The 



INTRODUCTORY. g 

Revelation the cherubim are seen as four living 
creatures. John saw them "in the midst of the 
throne, and round about the throne." The first 
living creature was like a lion, and the second 
like a calf (or ox), the third had a face as a 
man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. 

We have here doubtless the answer to our 
question as to the reason for four Gospels in- 
stead of one, and the key to the true interpreta- 
tion of the four. For just as the four living 
creatures are typical of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
showing forth the glory of God, so the four 
Gospels are four representations of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, as He lived and walked among 
men, showing forth the glory of His Father. In 
Matthew He is seen as the Lion of the Tribe of 
Judah, the King of Israel. In Mark He is shown 
as the devoted Servant, toiling patiently accord- 
ing to His Father's will, and at last yielding His 
life in vicarious sacrifice: the second living crea- 
ture was like an ox. In Luke He appears as the 
Son of Man, the Representative of a lost race 
and bearing its sins; Luke is the Gospel of the 
Manhood of Christ. And John describes Him 
as the Son of God Who, "like a flying eagle," 
came from heaven and returned to heaven — the 
Eternal God incarnate. 

We shall expect to find marked differences in 
the structure and contents of these four books; 
and yet they have a common testimony, revealing 
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God 
in the face of Jesus Christ, even as the four 



io SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

living creatures rest not day and night, saying, 
"Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Which 
was, and is, and is to come." (Rev. 4: 8.) 

So, then, we have four Gospels, and not one. 
The Holy Spirit of Truth has been pleased to 
have it so, and it is not for us to cut up His work 
and then patch it together into "interwoven gos- 
pels." Let us take up these books reverently, as 
we have received them from Him, and seek to 
know His mind. 

Four is the earthly number, as the "four cor- 
ners of the earth," the four winds, the four sea- 
sons. It is the number of the world as the place 
of trial. And these four Gospels reveal our 
Lord Jesus under test, and shown to be the true 
and faithful Witness, the spotless Lamb, Who 
needed not to die for His own sins and Who 
therefore might die for ours. 

Again, these four Gospels are divided into 
three and one, the synoptics forming one group 
and John standing by itself. The first three em- 
phasize particularly the humanity of Jesus and 
the last one His deity. The first three, there- 
fore, are represented by earthly creatures, the 
lion, the ox and the man; while the last is typi- 
fied by the bird of the heavens. Three and one 
are the numbers of manifestation and of su- 
preme Godhead. Taken altogether these rec- 
ords show unto us God, manifest in the flesh. 

Matthew is pre-eminently the Gospel of the 
Kingdom. We shall expect to see Jesus, 
throughout this Gospel, as the King of Israel 



INTRODUCTORY. n 

promised by the Prophets. The book is Jewish 
throughout, and is incomprehensible unless this 
point is carefully noted. To understand the 
book we must remember all the time that Jesus 
is here presented not primarily as Saviour, but 
as King. You will search in vain in Matthew 
for a statement of the Gospel of the Grace of 
God. John will tell you all about that; but 
Matthew's work is to tell you about the Gos- 
pel of the Kingdom of Heaven. Never else- 
where than in Matthew is the phrase, "the King- 
dom of Heaven," found anywhere in the Bible. 
It occurs thirty-two times in Matthew. The 
Church is mentioned, but only by anticipation as 
a future thing. It is properly found here, how- 
ever, for Matthew is the dispensational Gos- 
pel, setting forth the distinction between the 
Jews, the Gentiles and the Church of God. 



THE KING'S PEDIGREE AND BIRTH 



Chapter i 



Proceeding now to the study of the first chap- 
ter, we are confronted by the pedigree of the 
King (vs. 1-17) and His birth (18-25). This 
is the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, 
the son of David, the Son of Abraham. Thus 
He is the Heir to the Davidic and the Abrahamic 
covenants. The throne is His, and He is the 
promised Seed through Whom all the families 
of the earth shall be blessed. 

Four women are named in Matthew's geneal- 
ogy of Jesus, and all of them are connected in 
some way with shame. They are Thamar, 
Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. Three of them 
certainly, and all of them probably, were Gen- 
tiles, one was a Canaanitess and one a Moabitess 
(See Ex. 34: 11; Neh. 13: 1). It is thus shown 
how truly the Lord Jesus identified Himself with 
His sinful people, and how grace overleaped all 
bounds. 

It is interesting to notice that Jehoiachin's 
name appears in this list, despite the curse pro- 
nounced upon him and his seed in Jeremiah. 
Jehoiachin was the last King in David's direct 
line to reign in Jerusalem. He reigned but three 
months, but his brief rule was marked by terri- 

12 



THE KING'S PEDIGREE AND BIRTH. 13 

ble wickedness. His name appears as Jeconiah 
in 1 Chron. 3: 16 and Jer. 24: 1, and in Jer. 22: 
24-30 he is called Coniah. "As I live, saith Je- 
hovah, though Coniah the son of Jehioakim, 
King of Judah, were the signet upon My right 
hand, yet would I pluck thee thence; and I will 
give thee into the hand of them that seek thy 
life, and into the hand of them whose face thou 
fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar 
King of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chal- 
deans. And I will cast thee out, and thy mother 
that bare thee, into another country, where ye 
were not born ; and there shall ye die. But to the 
land whereunto they desire to return, thither 
shall they not return. Is this man Coniah a de- 
spised broken idol? Is he a vessel w r herein is 
no pleasure? Wherefore are they cast out, he 
and his seed; and are cast into a land which 
they know not? O Earth! Earth!! Earth!!! 
Hear the word of Jehovah. Thus saith Jeho- 
vah : Write this man childless, a man that shall 
not prosper in his days ; for no man of his seed 
shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David 
and ruling any more in Judah." 

Here is the key to the right understanding of 
the genealogical tables of our Lord Jesus Christ 
in Matthew and Luke. According to the Old 
Testament predictions the Messiah must be the 
Heir to the throne in the Kingly line, and actual- 
ly the Seed of David, without being descended 
from the wicked prince Coniah. It seemed im- 
possible that this could be brought about, but 



14 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

again the absolute integrity of the Word of God 
was shown. Matthew gives the genealogy of 
Joseph, the reputed father of Jesus. Joseph 
would have been the rightful King of Israel were 
it not for the prohibition against the seed of 
Coniah. Luke, on the other hand, gives the an- 
cestry of Jesus through His mother, Heli doubt- 
less being the father-in-law of Joseph. Thus 
Jesus was at once descended from David through 
his son Nathan, as shown in Luke, and was also 
the acknowledged Heir of Joseph, who descend- 
ed from David through Solomon's line, as shown 
in Matthew. 

The names of Ahaziah, Joash and Amaziah 
are omitted from this list. They were the de- 
scendants of the wicked Athaliah, daughter of 
Ahab, who sought to wipe out the house of 
David by killing the seed royal. Her sin is re- 
membered against her to the third and fourth 
generations and her sons are blotted out of God's 
remembrance. Then in verse 17 the whole list 
is divided into groups of fourteen each. It is 
seven, the complete number, multiplied by two, 
the number of testimony ; and this repeated three 
times, the number of manifestation. 

The King's birth is set forth in verses 18 to 
25. Mary, an obscure maiden, of the lineage of 
Judah and David, living in the village of Naza- 
reth, is chosen of God to be the mother of the 
Messiah. She was betrothed to Joseph, a car- 
penter, but before they came together she was 
found with child of the Holy Ghost. Joseph 



THE KING'S PEDIGREE AND BIRTH. 15 

thought of quietly divorcing her, for under the 
Jewish law betrothal was as binding as marriage 
itself; when an angel of the Lord appeared unto 
him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, thou son of 
David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, 
for that which is conceived in her is of the 
Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a Son, 
and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall 
save His people from their sins." This was in 
fulfillment of Prophecy. The promise was made 
to Eve in Eden that the Seed of the woman 
should bruise the serpent's head. The nation of 
Israel had longed and sighed for the coming of 
the Deliverer, Who should turn away ungodli- 
ness from Jacob. And the inspired record points 
out that in Isaiah 7:14 it was not the Prophet 
that spoke, but the words were "spoken of the 
Lord by the Prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin 
shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, 
and they shall call His name Immanuel, which 
being interpreted, is God with us." Then Joseph 
being raised from sleep did as the angel of 
the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his 
wife, and knew her not until she had brought 
forth her first-born Son, and he called His name 
Jesus. 

How simple is the record, and how perfectly 
clear! Much as men may speculate upon the 
mystery of the Incarnation, and the mystery is 
confessedly great, no one can fail to see that 
the Scriptures plainly declare its miraculous na- 
ture. To the anointed eye there is no difficulty, 



16 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

for God is in the miracle, and nothing is too 
hard for Him. 

The name Jesus, we learn here, is the same as 
Immanuel. Jehovah-the-Saviour is God-with- 
us. As Dr. Weston says: "The close of the 
first chapter indicates the forward step of the 
Gospels. In the Old Testament God is for His 
people; in the Gospels He is with His people; 
in the Epistles He is in His people. These three 
— God for us, God with us, God in us — are the 
method and end of divine dealing; holiness eter- 
nal in the heavens, incarnate on the earth, em- 
bodied in the saints." 



THE KING ANNOUNCED AND RE- 
JECTED 



Chapter 2 



The Scriptures tell us that "when the fullness 
of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of 
a woman" (Gal. 4:4), and that, after He had 
faithfully performed the will of His Father, "in 
due time Christ died." (Romans 5:6.) Every- 
thing transpired in due time, that is at the right 
moment, "just in the nick of time." A glance 
at the state of the world when He came in His 
First Advent will show how everything was 
made ready for His coming, and to the anointed 
eye it will readily appear that everything was 
prepared and executed "according to the de- 
terminate counsel and foreknowledge of God." 

The Situation Politically 

The year of the Lord Jesus' birth was 750 A. 
U. C, or 4 B. C, according to the common chron- 
ology. Rome was mistress of the world. Her 
domain extended from the Euphrates on the east 
and included Egypt and Spain on the south and 
west and the German provinces on the north. 
The defeat of Antony and Cleopatra in the bat- 
tle of Actium, B. C. 31, had produced an Em- 
peror and concentrated and cemented the power 
of the Empire. God had been at work, though 
unknown and unrecognized, to prepare the world 

17 



18 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW, 

politically for the introduction and spread of 
the truth as it is in Jesus. The great system of 
highways was created at this time and it became 
a universal proverb, as it was an established fact, 
that all roads led to Rome. It was all a part of 
God's plan. 

Socially 

Another great evidence of the divine planning 
may be seen in the social conditions then pre- 
vailing. There was a wonderful union and in- 
termingling of the peoples of the world. Rome 
itself was a great cosmopolitan meeting-place for 
the nations. The Greek language, though not 
the language of the state, became, nevertheless, 
the universal tongue of the people. -5£lius Aris- 
tides wrote of the Greeks, saying, "They cele- 
brate a far greater triumph than that on the 
field of Marathon, in the victory of their lan- 
guage. All states and all races of men have 
yielded to the spread of our tongue and our way 
of life. It does not stop at the Pillars of Her- 
cules, and neither the Libyan Desert nor the 
Bosporian Straits, nor the narrow defiles of 
Syria and Cilicia have set limit to it; but, as if 
by Divine Providence, an ardent desire for our 
wisdom and civilization has seized on all the 
world. Our language is now generally recog- 
nized as the common one, and through it the 
whole earth is become intelligible in the same 
utterance." 

Even this heathen writer recognized the 



RELIGIOUSLY. 19 

working of "Divine Providence" in this matter; 
and surely, we ought not to fail to discern the 
hand of God in thus reversing for the time being 
the edict of Babel. The New Testament was 
written in Greek, and Paul, being a Greek schol- 
ar, was able to preach throughout the known 
world. 

Religiously 

The world had plenty of religions, such as 
they were, but this very fact helped to pave the 
way for the truth, for men were not satisfied, 
and were seeking something better. Idolatry 
abounded everywhere and religion was a syno- 
nym for that which was impure and degrading. 
The east worshipped nature. Greece idealized 
and idolized humanity and therefore had gods 
with human faults. Their idea of heaven was 
Mount Olympus, itself a scene of riot and dis- 
order. 

Rome worshipped imperialism. On every 
hand were scepticism and materialism. Phil- 
osophers and poets were unanimous in voting all 
existing religions a failure and were unable to 
point out the way of relief. 

Epicurus could do no better than say "Enjoy 
thyself." The Sceptics said, "Give up all 
thought of certain knowledge." The Stoics said, 
"Abstain and endure ! Be sufficient for thyself." 
Seneca wrote, "Nobody can deliver himself. 
Someone must stretch out a hand to lift him up." 

The acme of human wisdom was expressed 



20 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

in the advice to commit suicide. "Patet Exitus" 
was the cry. There was a way of escape open 
— Death! Pliny held that man's chief glory 
was that he could kill himself. Seneca united 
with him in advising suicide. "I am tossed," he 
said, "upon a sea of pure infirmity. * * * The 
human mind is by nature perverse and strives 
after that which is forbidden and perilous.* * * 
We must say of ourselves that we are evil, and 
— unhappily I must add — shall be also in the fu- 
ture." 

Morally 

As a matter of course, the moral condition of 
the heathen world, growing out of this state of 
affairs religiously, was beyond description. The 
philosophers taught good morals, but lived im- 
moral lives. Juvenal wrote: 

"A ninth age of the world is ours, in wickedness 

greater 
Than that of iron; and Nature herself for its badness 
No name hath as yet found out, and no base metal en- 
gendered." 

And Horace said: 

"Our fathers, worse in their time than our grandsires, 
Begot us a still more degenerate race; 
And soon will a worse brood than we are succeed 
us." 

"All is full of misdoing and vice," says Seneca. 
"More sin is committed than can be made 
amends for by punishment. The delight in wick- 
edness becomes greater day by day, and the fear 



THE SITUATION IN JEWRY. 21 

of it less. Vice no longer conceals itself, but 
appears unabashed before all eyes. Innocence 
is not merely rare, but almost non-existent. ,, 

And Livy adds this word, "Through virtue 
Rome became great, and now we can neither en- 
dure her vices nor their antidote. ,, 

Surely this was the time for the Deliverer — 
this was "the fullness of the time." 

The Situation in Jewry 

In the Jewish nation affairs were all pointing 
toward some great crisis. Politically there was 
the galling Roman bondage, following the Mac- 
cabeean wars. Religiously, the people were di- 
vided into three classes. First there were the 
Pharisees, whose name means "Separated." 
These were the formalists or ritualists, punctil- 
ious observers of the outward things of the Law, 
but with little heart for God Himself. The sec- 
ond group called themselves Sadducees, mean- 
ing "righteous." These were materialists, de- 
nying the supernatural. In modern times such 
people are called moralists. The third class 
were the Essenes, whose name means "reli- 
gious." These were the ascetics of that time, 
corresponding in some degree to the monastic 
orders of a later period. 

The condition among the Jews was one of ex- 
ternal misery and inward distress. But every- 
where there w T as a feeling of expectancy, as 
shown by the literature of the time. The hope 
of the coming of Messiah was burning in many 



22 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

hearts, and as the distress grew more and more 
trying the belief increased that the Anointed One 
was about to come. This hope was abroad 
among the Gentile peoples also, for there were 
large numbers of Jews outside of Palestine ; and 
their expectation of a Ruler who should reign 
over the whole world was communicated in some 
measure to those about them. There was an ex- 
pectant gaze toward Palestine. Thus we see that 
even in the Dispersion itself there was the work- 
ing out of God's plan to prepare the way for the 
Advent of His Son. 

The Record 

The events immediately connected with the 
birth of Jesus, so fully described by Luke, are 
much more briefly given by Matthew. Luke, 
whose Gospel is the Gospel of the Manhood, 
tells us all about the miraculous conception of 
the Holy Child, and the marvellous circumstances 
attending His birth. He is not set forth in Luke 
as a "King of the Jews," but "a Saviour, Which 
is Christ the Lord." The announcement in 
Luke is not to Israel exclusively, but "good 
tidings of great joy which shall be to all peo- 
ple." Luke tells about the taxing, but Matthew 
says nothing about it; for it is not meet that a 
King, as such, should be taxed. Luke, and not 
Matthew, speaks of the circumcision of the 
Child and the days of the purification of the 
mother. All this is foreign to Matthew's pur- 
pose. Matthew is careful to point out that the 



THE RECORD. 23 

royal Child received worship with the gifts of 
the wise men. Luke does not tell us that any- 
one worshipped Him, though it is through him 
we learn of the visit of the shepherds, and the 
joy of Simeon and Anna. The reason is that 
Jesus is the King in Matthew and the Man in 
Luke. Quite in keeping with this is the refer- 
ence to Palestine as "the land of Israel," found 
twice in the second chapter of Matthew and no- 
where else in the New Testament. It is thus 
proclaimed as Israel's land in the name of Is- 
rael's King. 

The second chapter of Matthew contains mat- 
ter which is all peculiar to this Gospel. No other 
w 7 riter tells of the visit of the magi, the rage of 
Herod and the massacre of the innocents at 
Bethlehem, the flight into Egypt and the return 
therefrom after Herod's death. 

These events very evidently did not occur im- 
mediately after the birth of Jesus, for Luke tells 
us that after the birth and circumcision of the 
Holy Child, "when they had performed all things 
according to the Law of the Lord, they re- 
turned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth." 
From Matthew we learn that immediately after 
the visit of the wise men from the east, "when 
they had departed," Joseph was warned by an 
angel to take the Child and His mother and flee 
into Egypt. "And he arose and took the young 
Child and His mother by night and departed into 
Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod." 
It seems, then, that the visit of the wise men and 



24 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

the flight into Egypt must have been when the 
Child Jesus was a least a year old. Evidently 
Joseph and Mary had lived with the Child at 
Nazareth for twelve months and had now re- 
turned to Jerusalem to keep the Feast. Luke 
tells us that the parents of Jesus went to Jeru- 
salem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 
Bethlehem being their ancestral city, they would 
naturally lodge there during the Feast. All the 
details of the record seem to point to this under- 
standing. The shepherds in Luke found the 
Saviour as "a Babe wrapped in swaddling 
clothes." The wise men worshipped Him as a 
"young Child with Mary His mother." The 
shepherds had found Him in a stable, lying in a 
manger; the wise men found Him in a "house." 
This view of the record also explains why Herod, 
in seeking the life of the new-born King, de- 
stroyed all children in Bethlehem up to two years 
old. 

Our English Bible is responsible for some of 
the confusion in this connection. The first verse 
of chapter 2 is made to read, "Now when Jesus 
was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of 
Herod the King, behold there came wise men 
from the east to Jerusalem." The Revised Ver- 
sion does not help us any here, but the American 
Bible Union translation gives us the correct ren- 
dering : "And Jesus having been born in Beth- 
lehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king," 
etc. Dr. Young translates the same way, and 
Weymouth reads: "Now after the birth of 



THE RECORD. 25 

Jesus, which took place at Bethlehem in Judea 
in the reign of King Herod, excitement was pro- 
duced in Jerusalem by the arrival of certain 
magians from the east," etc. 

If the star, seen in the east by the travelers, 
had first appeared at the time of Jesus' birth, 
they could not possibly have reached Judea a 
few days afterward; and in view of all the data 
we have, it seems certain that their arrival at 
Jerusalem was at the time of the Passover fol- 
lowing that of our Lord's birth by one year. 

The star seen by the wise men was not a con- 
junction of planets, as suggested by Kepler, for 
it went before them and led them to a certain 
town and to a certain house. It was a miracu- 
lous arrangement by God for the guidance of 
these seekers. We need not suppose that the 
star led them all the way from their eastern 
home. Verse 9 seems to imply that when they 
left Herod and started for Bethlehem the star 
reappeared to them, "the star which they saw in 
the east." 

Of course no one knows how many of the wise 
men there were. Tradition says there were three 
and that each was a King. This number may 
have been suggested by the fact that three kinds 
of gifts were offered — gold, frankincense and 
myrrh. So far as the record is concerned there 
might have been scores or hundreds of these 
men. 

The nature of the gifts offered to the infant 
King was significant. Gold is an emblem of roy- 



26 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

alty ; frankincense speaks of the sweet savour of 
our Lord's life, ever fragrant with the odor of 
a sweet smell, as he offered continually an ac- 
ceptable and well-pleasing sacrifice of obedience 
to His Father. The myrrh was a resinous sub- 
stance for embalming the dead and this gift was 
doubtless ordered of God to prefigure the con- 
summation of that life, when Jesus, through the 
Eternal Spirit, should offer Himself without spot 
to God. 

Fulfillment of Prophecy 

In Isaiah 60 there is a prophecy, of which this 
visit of the wise men is sometimes referred to, 
as the fulfillment. The 6th verse says, "they 
shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall 
proclaim the praises of the Lord. ,, The proph- 
ecy is not yet fulfilled, but points to the Second 
Advent of the Lord Jesus. To Israel the Proph- 
et says of that Day, "The Gentiles shall come to 
thy light and Kings to the brightness of thy ris- 
ing." It is noticeable that myrrh is omitted here, 
for the death it symbolizes will then be past ,and 
He Who liveth and was dead shall be alive for 
evermore. 

There are four prophecies, however, fulfilled 
in this second chapter of Matthew. The first 
is from Mic. 5 : 2, indicating Bethlehem as the 
Messiah's birthplace. The second is in Hosea 
11: 1, saying, "Out of Egypt have I called My 
Son." The prophecy itself appears to refer to 
the nation of Israel, and not to the Messiah: 



FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY. 27 

"When Israel was a child, then I loved him and 
called My Son out of Egypt." The Spirit of 
God implies, through Matthew, that the 
prophetic Word applied to the Messiah, and that 
when He went down into Egypt it was in order 
that He might come forth again ; and that in that 
coming forth He was identified with His breth- 
ren according to the flesh. Israel was in God's 
reckoning included in Jesus, and from His com- 
ing forth out of Egypt to His ascent into heaven 
to sit at His Father's right hand, He was acting 
as a Substitute for Israel, and saving His people 
from their sins. 

The third prophecy fulfilled is from Jer. 31 : 
15. The nation is personified in Rachel and is 
weeping for her children, slain by the sword. 
Israel has been weeping ever since, and will con- 
tinue to weep until their mourning shall be for 
their Brother, Whom they pierced, and they shall 
know Him and receive Him as the promised 
Deliverer. Then shall they be glad. It is com- 
forting to read the context in Jeremiah: "Thus 
saith Jehovah : Refrain thy voice from weeping, 
and thine eyes from tears : for thy work shall be 
rewarded, saith Jehovah, and they shall come 
again from the land of the enemy. And there is 
hope for thy latter end, saith Jehovah; and thy 
children shall come again to their own border. " 

The fourth prophecy fulfilled is referred to 
in the last verse : "He came and dwelt in a city 
called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which 
was spoken by the Prophets, He shall be called 



28 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

a Nazarene." "Nazarene" is the feminine form 
of "netzar," a rod or shoot. Isaiah uses the 
word in chapter 1 1 : i : "There shall come forth 
a Rod (Shoot, R. V.) out of the stock of Jesse, 
and a Branch out of His roots shall bear fruit." 
In Jer. 23:5 and 33:15 the Messiah is again 
spoken of as the Branch, and also in Zech. 6: 12. 
It is a lowly name, as Nazareth was a despised 
place. Our Lord was often derisively called a 
Nazarene, and His followers were called "the 
sect of the Nazarenes." It is a part of the shame 
which He bore and despised — He made Him- 
self of no reputation. 

It is clear that all through the inspired record 
our Lord Jesus is entirely separated from all 
about Him as the divine One, amongst those who 
were human and sinful. Joseph was greatly hon- 
ored in being called to minister to the holy Child ; 
Mary was greatly honored in being selected to 
bear the body prepared of God for Him; but 
when we have said that w r e have said all. Jos- 
eph and Mary do not appear with haloes about 
their heads, and the Bible knows nothing of "The 
Holy Family." The wise men did not worship 
the family, nor even the mother. When they 
saw the young Child with Mary His mother they 
fell down and worshipped — not them, but — 
Him; and their gifts were presented only unto 
Him. Mariolatry has no place in the Word of 
God. 

It remains only to point out certain typical and 
dispensational lessons found in our chapter. We 



FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY. 29 

have here a picture of the present Dispensation, 
drawn by the Spirit of God Himself. The Lord 
Jesus is still rejected by His own people Israel 
and He is found and worshipped by the Gentiles. 
The natural olive branches are broken off and 
the wild branches graffed in, though this is "con- 
trary to nature." Jesus, to the Jews, is just a 
Nazarene, despised and rejected; a Man of Sor- 
rows, having no comeliness that they should de- 
sire Him, a Root out of dry ground. 

But w r e have here also a picture, no less at- 
tractive, of the Dispensation yet to come, when 
not only wise men from the east, a little remnant 
of Gentiles, but from the east and from the west 
and from every quarter and corner of the 
earth, "the Gentiles shall come to worship the 
Lord of Hosts at Jerusalem." He will be on 
His throne then, in Jerusalem. In the meantime 
we must be content to go outside the camp to 
find Him, and there we may discover the secret 
place of the Most High and the shadow of the 
Almighty. He will be found of them who seek 
for Him. Bethlehem, for such, is the "House 
of Bread" indeed, for He is the Bread of God 
Which cometh down from heaven and giveth 
life unto the world. 

"Let us go forth, therefore, unto Him without 
the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we 
have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. 
By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of 
praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of 
our lips giving thanks to His name," 



THE KING'S ANOINTING 



Chapter 3 



The third chapter of Matthew describes the 
coming of the King's forerunner, "the messen- 
ger to prepare the way before Me." (Mai. 3: 1.) 
In this Gospel of the Kingdom John Baptist 
comes preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and 
saying, "Repent ye; for the Kingdom of Heaven 
is at hand." Mark and Luke inform us that he 
preached the baptism of repentance for the re- 
mission of sins. 

Again, in the quotation from Isaiah 40, Mat- 
thew writes, "This is He that was spoken of by 
the Prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one 
crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of 
the Lord, make His paths straight." Matthew 
stops there, for that is all of the passage having 
to do especially with Israel. But Luke, who is 
presenting the Lord Jesus, not as the King of 
Israel, but as the universal, representative Man, 
proceeds with the quotation: ; "Every valley 
shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall 
be brought low; and the crooked shall be made 
straight, and the rough ways shall be made 
smooth: and all flesh shall see the salvation of 
God." 

Both Matthew and Luke report the words of 
30 



THE KING'S ANOINTING. 31 

the Baptist concerning his coming Master, 
"Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thor- 
oughly purge His floor and gather His wheat 
into the garner, but He will burn up the chaff 
with unquenchable fire.' , This language is be- 
fitting the Lord Jesus, both as King of the Jews 
and as the Son of Man coming to judgment. 
Mark omits it, for in his Gospel our Lord is not 
the mighty King of Israel, nor the righteous 
Judge of all, so much as the meek and lowly 
Servant of God. 

Only in Matthew do we have the protest of 
John against baptizing his Lord. Mark simply 
records that "Jesus came from Nazareth of Gal- 
ilee and was baptized of John in the Jordan." 
That is all that needed to be said of the baptism 
of the Servant. Luke also mentions but briefly 
the baptism of the Man; but in Matthew this 
Man is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the glo- 
rious Messiah, and John shrinks back. He does 
not forbid Him, as in the Authorized Version, 
for he could not forbid the King. Rather, as in 
the Revised Version, "John would have hin- 
dered Him, saying, I have need to be baptized 
of Thee, and comest Thou to me?" The King's 
reply is very significant: "Suffer it now to be, 
for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteous- 
ness." 

Righteousness the Key Word 

This word righteousness is a key word in 
Matthew, b^ing found seven tirnes in the book. 



32 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

Mark never once uses the word and though Luke 
has it once and John twice, the word has a pe- 
culiar meaning in Matthew which does not at- 
tach to it in the other Gospels. This will read- 
ily appear to anyone who will take the trouble 
to carefully read the passages where the word 
is found. In Matthew righteousness is the Law 
of the Kingdom of Heaven which is to be set up 
on the earth. In the present mystery form of the 
Kingdom, during the King's absence from the 
earth, there is a mixture of good and evil in the 
Kingdom, as shown in chapter 13, but when He 
shall return and establish the Kingdom in mani- 
festation, only the righteous shall enter into that 
Kingdom to reign with Him. 

This righteousness is an absolute thing, an 
inflexible requirement for entrance into that 
Kingdom. It will not do to present a partial 
righteousness : indeed, there can be no such thing ; 
if there be any flaw in it, there is no righteous- 
ness. It is not enough that we should do more 
good than evil; if evil be at all present, then 
righteousness is altogether absent. We must 
fulfill all righteousness. 

"Who, then, can be saved?" This very nat- 
ural question was once asked of Jesus (Matt. 
19:25) and He replied, "With men this is im- 
possible, but with God all things are possible." 

Impossible, indeed ! For here is a demand for 
flawless righteousness, and when we look with- 
in we find dwelling there no good thing. We are 
all as an unclean thing, and who can bring a 



RIGHTEOUSNESS THE KEY WORD. 33 

clean thing out of an unclean? All our right- 
eousnesses, when tried by the white light of 
God's holiness, are as filthy rags. "How, then, 
can a man be just before God? If He will con- 
tend with him, he cannot answer Him one of a 
thousand?* * * If I justify myself, mine own 
mouth shall condemn me : if I say, I am perfect, 
it shall also prove me perverse.* * * How, then, 
can a man be justified before God? Or how can 
he be clean that is born of a woman? Behold 
even the moon hath no brightness, and the stars 
are not pure in His sight. How much less a 
man, that is a worm! and the son of man, that 
is a worm! * * * If Thou, Lord, shouldest 
mark iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand? Enter 
not into judgment with Thy servant, for in Thy 
sight shall no man living be justified. " 

Impossible? Yes, with men this is impossible. 
We need only to get a glimpse of God and His 
unapproachable brightness to for ever despair 
of establishing our own righteousness. When 
we see Him as Job saw Him, we abhor ourselves. 
When we see Him as Isaiah saw Him, every 
man of us covers his face and cries out, "Woe 
is me ! For I am undone ! Because I am a 
man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people 
of unclean lips !" When we see Him as Daniel 
saw Him, we find all our comeliness turning into 
corruption within us. When we see Him as 
Habakkuk saw Him, our bodies tremble, our 
lips quiver at His voice and rottenness entereth 
into our bones. When we see Him as Saul of 



34 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW, 

Tarsus saw Him, all our proud pharisaism goes 
out and we are prone in the dust crying out, 
"Lord, what wilt Thou?" When we see Him. 
as John saw Him, we can only fall at His feet as 
dead. 

Impossible? Yes, impossible with men; but 
thanks be to God, with Him all things are pos- 
sible. It was just because it was impossible with 
men, that He came to accomplish it for them. 
And He had us in mind when He used that plural 
pronoun at His baptism. "Suffer it to be now," 
said He, "for thus it becometh us to fulfill all 
righteousness." All His people are included in 
that word. He came not to destroy the Law, 
nor to set aside its requirements, but to fulfill 
them; and He kept at His work until He had 
perfectly accomplished it and could say, "It is 
finished!" Men could never have done it for 
themselves and the Law could not do it for them, 
but "what the Law could not do in that it was 
weak through the flesh, God, sending His own 
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, 
condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous- 
ness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who 
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." 
(Romans 8: 3, 4.) 

Death and Resurrection 

And would you know how it is done? Read 
the answer in Jesus' word, "Thus." He pre- 
sented Himself for baptism and said: "Thus 
it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." Bap- 



THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM. 35 

tism is burial and that speaks of death. But 
death is the divinely appointed way to life. And 
baptism is not only burial ; it is also resurrection. 
We not only go down into the water, but we also 
come up out of the water. There is immersion 
not only; there is also emersion. And all this 
signifies that by means of the vicarious death of 
the Lamb of God in our room and stead, we ob- 
tain the righteousness of God and the gift of 
eternal life. Christ died for the sinner, therefore 
in God's reckoning the sinner died. And in so 
dying the sinner has fulfilled all righteousness. 
He broke the Law, but he paid the penalty, by 
dying in the person of his Substitute. The Law 
is perfectly vindicated and its requirements sat- 
isfied. The believer is as free as the air. In 
God's sight he is perfectly righteous — justified 
from all things. 

The Doctrine of Baptism 

This is the doctrine of baptism — "Therefore 
we are buried with Him by baptism into death, 
that like as Christ was raised from the dead by 
the glory of the Father, even so we also should 
walk in newness of life/' (Romans 6: 4.) The 
figure is the same, whether in the baptism of the 
present Dispensation, "into the name of the Lord 
Jesus/' or in John's baptism unto repentance. 
It is death and burial and resurrection; and 
thus and only thus can we fulfill all righteous- 
ness. "Him Who knew no sin, He made to be 
sin on our behalf, that we might become the 



36 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor. 5:21.) 
He is our righteousness. (1 Cor. 1:30.) 

The baptism of Jesus is recorded by all the 
synoptists. In Matthew He is the King and 
Shepherd of Israel, leading His people through 
death to life and glory. In Mark He shows that 
there can be no true service for God which is 
not preceded by death and resurrection in the 
power of the Holy Spirit. In Luke He in a 
figure tastes death for all men. As in Adam 
all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. In 
Luke He is indeed the Saviour of the world. 
John's Gospel does not record the baptism, for 
Jesus in that Gospel is the Eternal Word, God 
manifest in the flesh, and it is not in keeping 
with John's purpose to speak in that place of 
His humiliation. John's aim throughout is to 
show that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; 
that, believing we might have life through His 
name. 

The strong language addressed by John the 
Baptist to the Pharisees and Sadducees is full 
of meaning. These w r ere the ritualists and mor- 
alists. "Offspring of vipers," John called them, 
thus tracing them back to their father, that old 
serpent the devil. These men prided them- 
selves on their Arahamic origin, but John warn- 
ed them that something more was demanded. 
It was not a question now of descent from Abra- 
ham, but there must be repentance and fruit. 
He was seeking to show them their sad plight 
and helpless condition, in order that the great 



THE DOCTRINE OP BAPTISM, 37 

Saviour might reach them. John was indeed 
preparing the way for his Lord, and Luke tells 
us afterward (ch. 7 : 29, 30) that those who 
heard Jesus and justified God were those who 
had been baptized with the baptism of John ; but 
the Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the counsel 
of God against themselves, being not baptized of 
him. 

John's baptism was a national one, having 
to do specifically with Israel. It was unto re- 
pentance, which means a change of mind. Israel 
had come to the end of itself as a nation and as 
Moses had led them through the Red Sea and 
Joshua had led them through Jordan, so now the 
Lord Jesus, the Joshua of the New Covenant, 
would lead them in a figure through the Jordan 
again. 

John spoke of his baptism as merely prelim- 
inary. "I, indeed/' he said, "baptize you with 
water unto repentance : * * * He shall baptize 
you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." When 
the great Day of Pentecost was fully come the 
baptism of the Holy Ghost was given, and there 
were tongues "like as of fire;" but that was not 
the baptism with fire. The Jewish nation has 
yet to pass through that baptism in connection 
with the great and dreadful Day of the Lord, 
that Day that shall burn as an oven. Then shall 
He sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, purg- 
ing out dross in the fires of judgment. 

Let us thank God that Jesus' death was not 
in vain. When He died on the Cross of Cal- 



38 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

vary the vail of the Temple was rent in twain 
from top to bottom, thus opening the way into 
the Holy of Holies. So at His baptism, which 
was a type of His death, the heavens themselves 
were opened, the Spirit came upon Him and 
abode on Him; and the Father Himself spoke 
out of the clouds: "This is My beloved Son, 
in Whom I am well pleased." Three times dur- 
ing His ministry did His Father thus witness 
for Him. The Father was well pleased with the 
Son in all that He did, for He always did those 
things that were well pleasing in His sight. His 
suffering for us was acceptable and well pleas- 
ing to God and we who have come to God by 
Him are accepted in the Beloved. And all this 
is true because He for us has fulfilled all right- 
eousness. 

"Death and judgment are behind us, 
Grace and glory are before; 
All the billows rolled o'er Jesus, 
There they spent their utmost power. 

"First-fruits of the resurrection, 
He is risen from the tomb; 
Now we stand in new creation, 
Free, because beyond our doom. 

"Jesus died, and we died with Him, 
Buried in His grave we lay, 
One with Him in resurrection 
Now in Him in heaven's bright day." 



THE KING'S ADVERSARY 



Chapter 4 



Matthew is the Genesis of the New Testa- 
ment, and there are many points of correspond- 
ence between it and the Genesis of the Old Testa- 
ment. One of these is the appearance, early in 
the story, of the person called Satan. At the 
dawn of human history, this terrible being ap- 
peared in the garden of Eden to tempt the first 
Adam; and now he presents himself in the wil- 
derness of Judea to tempt the Second Adam. It 
is of great importance that we should know who 
Satan is, and the Scriptures have not left us in 
the dark concerning him. It is quite the fashion 
nowadays to dispose of Satan as a bugaboo of 
the Dark Ages and to make him the butt of 
joke and ridicule. And this is doubtless quite in 
keeping with his own plans, as the enemy of God 
and man ; for if we can be deluded into thinking 
of him only as something unreal or unworthy of 
serious thought, it will leave us unarmed against 
his snares. 

To the Law and the Testimony ! Let the Word 
of the living God enlighten us. 

The student who bows to the authority of the 
Scriptures can have no doubt as to the reality 
and personality of Satan. Satan is a person. 

39 



40 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

There is not a single impersonal reference to him 
in the whole Bible. Personal names, personal 
pronouns, personal acts, personal planning and 
plotting, personal reasoning and scheming are all 
attributed to him, showing him to be an actual 
person, as truly as God is a person, as truly as 
men are persons. Satan is not merely an evil 
influence or an evil principle. He is altogether 
evil, and the Scriptures unmistakably declare it, 
but he is always set forth, not as an influence, 
but as a person. 

Look at the chapter we are considering here, 
the fourth of Matthew. In this story the per- 
sonal devil is seen as really as the personal Mes- 
siah. Both of these are persons, one as actually 
as the other, and neither more so than the 
other. 

Satan is not only a person. He is a person of 
great dignity. (See Jude 8, 9.) Originally 
created perfect, he fell from his high estate 
through pride. Doubtless he is the spiritual 
King of Tyre described in Ezekiel's Prophecy. 
(Compare Ezek. 28:11-17 with John 8:44 and 
1 Tim. 3:6.) Unlike the fallen angels of Jude 
6, he is not under restraint, but "as a roaring 
lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may de- 
vour/' (1 Pet. 5:8.) 

Satan is not in hell. Though that awful place 
is especially for him and his angels (Matt. 25: 
41), and he will certainly be cast at last into the 
Lake of Fire (Rev. 20: 10), his residence during 
the present Age is chiefly in the heavenly realms, 



THE KING'S ADVERSARY. 41 

where he has access to God's presence and ac- 
cuses the saints before Him day and night. (See 
Job 1:6-12; Rev. 12:10.) His ejection from 
heaven, described in Rev. 12:9, is yet future. 
The Lord Jesus spoke of the same event proph- 
etically in Luke 10: 18, and John 12: 31. When 
Satan finally reaches hell it will not be to reign 
as King, but to suffer eternal torment. There 
will be no King in hell : it will be a place of an- 
archy, well suited to those who "despise domin- 
ion^ and will not have God's King to reign over 
them. (Jude 8; Luke 19: 14.) 

In the meantime, however, Satan is a King. 
The Scriptures speak of him as The Prince of 
this World, The God of this Age, and The 
Prince of the Power of the Air, and it is de- 
clared that the whole world lieth in the evil one. 
(John 12:3-1 ; 16: 11 ; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2: 1, 2; 
1 John 5: 19.) The Lord Jesus speaks of Sa- 
tan's Kingdom in Matt. 12:26. The agents em- 
ployed by Satan in his Kingdom includes angels, 
principalities and powers — demons in the spir- 
itual world — and upon the earth he has follow- 
ers, who are called in the Bible "children of 
the devil" and "his ministers," these latter being 
disguised as "ministers of righteousness." The 
devil himself appears as "the spirit that now 
worketh in the children of disobedience." (See 
Matt. 25:41; Eph. 6:12; John 8:44; 2 Cor. 
ir: 13-15; Eph. 2:2.) 

In the realm of spirits Satan appoints certain 
of his agents to rule in his interest in the affairs 



42 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

of the nations of this world. We read in Dan- 
iel of such agents of Satan, as the Prince of Per- 
sia, and the Prince of Greece. (Read carefully 
Dan. 10 : 13, 20, 21.) 

In the earth Satan is given great power over 
men, even including the power of death. (Heb. 
2:14.) He gathers nations to battle (Rev. 16: 
13, 14); carries men into sin (1 Cor. 12:2; 2 
Tim. 2 : 26) ; hides the Gospel from the lost 
(2 Cor. 4:3, 4); hinders Christians in their 
service (1 Thess. 2: 18) ; and accuses them day 
and night in heaven before God (Rev. 12: 10). 

Satan often visits the earth in person and 
sometimes appears visibly to men. In Eden he 
presented himself as the serpent. We are not to 
suppose that he looked like the slimy crawling 
snakes of to-day, for the curse had not yet been 
pronounced. He appeared as a beautiful and at- 
tractive person as he tempted the man and 
woman in the garden. Sometimes he enters into 
the bodies of men who yield themselves to him, 
and operates through them, as in the case of 
Judas. (John 13:26, 27.) Again, he fashions 
himself into an angel of light and his minis- 
ters fashion themselves as ministers of right- 
eousness, "whose end shall be according to their 
works." (2 Cor. 11:13-15.) The record does 
not tell us how he appeared to our Lord Jesus 
in the wilderness, but he may rest assured that 
the modern conception of him as a black hide- 
ous monster with horns and hoofs and forked 
tail is far from the truth, and indeed it may be 



THE KING'S ADVERSARY. 43 

believed that that idea itself originated with 
himself, for he is a liar and the father of lies, 
whose particular business it is to deceive the 
whole world. 

As to Satan's destiny, the Word of God is 
perfectly clear. He will be cast out of the heav- 
ens (Rev. 12:9-11) ; he will raise up and ener- 
gize the Antichrist (2 Thess. 2:3-9; R ev - 1 3 : 
2, 3) ; he will gather the world under Anti- 
christ to fight against Christ and His saints at 
Jerusalem (Rev. 19: 19, 20; Zech. 14:3, 4) ; he 
will be bound for a thousand years at our Lord's 
return to the earth as King (Rev. 20: 2, 3) ; he 
will be loosed again for a season at the close of 
the Millenium and gather the hosts of evil to 
fight against the Lord (Rev. 20: 7-9), and he will 
be finally cast into the Lake of Fire. (Rev. 
20: 10.) 

The Temptation of Jesus followed immediate- 
ly His baptism and anointing by the Holy Spirit. 
In Matthew's account the King is led by the 
Spirit to be tempted by the devil. So also in 
Luke, for Jesus was thus tested as the Man as 
well as the King. Mark has two verses on the 
temptation of the Servant, but his utter subjec- 
tion as the Servant is emphasized by Mark's 
words "Immediately the Spirit driveth Him into 
the wilderness." This is submission, and every 
servant may find in just such surrender to the 
Spirit of God the surest refuge from the devil's 
hindering power. This thought was given to 
Peter when he wrote (1 Pet. 5:5-11): "God 



44 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the hum- 
ble. Humble yourselves therefore under the 
mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in 
due time; casting all your anxiety upon Him, 
because He careth for you. Be sober, be watch- 
ful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, 
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 
whom withstand steadfast in your faith, know- 
ing that the same sufferings are accomplished in 
your brethren who are in the world. And the 
God of all grace, who called you unto his eter- 
nal glory in Christ, after that ye have suffered 
a little while, shall himself perfect, stablish, 
strengthen you. To Him be the dominion for 
ever and ever. Amen." (See also James 4: 
5-io.) 

The temptation followed a period of forty 
days. Forty is the number of testing. These 
forty days correspond with the forty years of 
Israel's testing in the wilderness and Moses' 
forty years at the back side of the desert. 

The Threefold Temptation 

The temptation was threefold, an^ though 
far greater in power and degree than that pre- 
sented to man in Eden, is yet similar to it in 
principle. The appeal of the adversary was di- 
rected to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the 
eye, and the vainglory of life. This is all that 
is in the world (1 John 2: 16) and it is there- 
fore all that the devil has to offer. This three- 
fold appeal prevailed with Eve in the garden. 



THE THREEFOLD TEMPTATION. 45 

"When the woman saw that the tree was good 
for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, 
and that the tree was to be desired to make one 
wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; 
and she gave also unto her husband with her, 
and he did eat." (Gen. 3:6.) 

First, there was the lust of the flesh. It was 
good for food. Now Adam and Eve were not 
hungry; there was abundant provision of food 
and there was no need for the fruit of the for- 
bidden tree. Jesus had not eaten food for forty 
days, and He was surrounded, not by the riches 
of the garden of Eden, blooming under the 
blessing of God, but rather by the bleak and 
dreary desert of Judea, blighted by the curse. 
How subtle, then, was the temptation! It began 
with an attempt to cast a doubt upon God's 
word. In Eden Satan began with the merest 
suggestion. "Yea, hath God said?" and followed 
with a flat contradiction, "Ye shall not surely 
die." In his meeting with Jesus he began the 
same way — "If thou be the Son of God." God 
had said it at the Jordan, "This is My beloved 
Son." Satan's suggestion is that if Jesus were 
God's Son, He would not be suffering. It is the 
beginning of lies and the sum of them. Adam 
and Eve were led to believe that God did not 
love them, or He would not have forbidden any- 
thing to them. Satan sought to convince Jesus 
that God would never let His Son go hungry. 
Every day and all the time this evil suggestion 
is thrust into the minds of the children of God — 



46 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

"If ye be the sons of God, then there ought to 
be something in it for you." 

Jesus was perfectly able to make bread out of 
stones, or out of nothing, for He had made the 
stones and all things besides. Satan knew this, 
for he knew Who He was dealing with. It was 
no sin to be hungry, and the temptation to prove 
His divine sonship before the very eyes of the 
enemy would be very great. 

This was the devil's reasoning, but his shafts 
recoiled upon himself, for he was met by the 
Sword of the Spirit. "It is written," flashed the 
reply, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but 
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth 
of God." Jesus was hungry and He would eat 
presently, if God so willed it. He could perform 
a miracle and set a table for Himself in the des- 
ert, but it was not for Him to do so at the word 
of the enemy before Him. He had come to 
destroy the works of the devil, not to be a part- 
ner in his evil deeds. He had broken into the 
house and was bound to take away the treasure, 
but He must first bind the strong man, and that 
He was now doing. (Matt. 12:29.) 

Matthew and Luke give the second and third 
appeals in reverse order. Of course there is a 
reason for this difference, and this reason is to 
be sought in connection with the particular de- 
sign of each account. In Luke's Gospel of the 
Manhood, the temptations are given in the same 
order as those of Genesis, thus bringing into 
sharp contrast by parallelism the temptation of 



THE THREEFOLD TEMPTATION. 47 

the first man, who was of the earth, earthy, and 
the Second Man, Who was the Lord from heav- 
en. In Matthew the Kingdom is ever in the fore- 
front and the three phases of the temptation 
are given in the order that would most strongly 
appeal to the King, the climax being reached in 
the last appeal, by which the adversary offered 
a short cut to the throne. 

The second appeal in Matthew is the third in 
Luke, and was especially directed against the 
vainglory of life. Jesus is taken into the holy 
city, Jerusalem, and set on the pinnacle of the 
Temple. Then the devil tries his own hand at 
wielding the Sword of the Spirit. "If thou art 
the Son of God," said he, "cast thyself down : for 
it is written, He shall give His angels charge 
concerning thee, and on their hands they shall 
bear thee up, lest haply thou dash thy foot 
against a stone." 

The enemy has discovered that Jesus cannot 
be tempted from the Word of God, he will now 
see whether He can be tempted by it. He per- 
verts the Scripture and makes it seem to say what 
God never intended. There is very much such 
wresting of the Word of God in our day. The 
devil's quotation was from the ninety-first Psalm, 
and well he knew, what is often denied by teach- 
ers to-day, that this Psalm was Messianic. But 
in using it he tore a passage from its context 
and left out an important clause in the very 
midst of the passage quoted. The full thought 
of the Psalm is that, because of the Messiah's 



48 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

perfect obedience and faithfulness, therefore He 
shall be protected. In the ninth verse the Son, 
addressing the Father, says, "Thou, O Jehovah, 
art My refuge." And the Father replies, "Thou 
hast made the Most High Thy habitation; there 
shall no evil befall Thee, neither shall any plague 
come nigh Thy tent. For He will give His 
angels charge over Thee, to keep Thee in all 
Thy ways. They shall bear Thee up in their 
hands, lest Thou dash Thy foot against a stone." 
This was the subtle temptation to the vainglory 
of life. Eve saw that the tree was to be de- 
sired to make one wise. It is ever a dangerous 
tendency among men to seek to obtain wisdom 
apart from God — to be wise above what is writ- 
ten; in other words, to suppose that they know 
more than God; and better than God, what is 
good for them. And if there can be found a 
seeming warrant for such presumption in the 
Word of God, so much the better, and so much 
stronger is the temptation to run ahead of God. 

It is a great thing to have many shafts to our 
bow and be able with Jesus to meet the enemy 
at this point with "It is written again." Let 
the w r ord of Christ dwell in you richly, O man 
of God, for you shall find much need for it in 
meeting the snares and wiles of the devil. "It 
is written again" must go with "It is written," 
for the enemy of our souls will never be content 
to leave us after but one thrust and parry. 

"Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy 
God." This is full of meaning for every child 



THE THREEFOLD TEMPTATION. 49 

of God. He would have us know that He is 
our Father, to be depended upon, not to be pro- 
voked ; to be trusted and not to be put constant- 
ly to the proof. A desire thus to continually 
test Him and presume upon His faithfulness is 
ever born of the sin of unbelief, the sin that 
doth so easily beset us. It is always suspicious 
that He is not wholly true and that He must be 
always watched, lest He fail to fulfill His prom- 
ises. It is hateful to God and also hateful to 
His well beloved Son, Who well knows that 
"God is faithful." 

The third temptation in Matthew and the sec- 
ond in Luke is an appeal directed to the lust of 
the eye. Eve yielded when she saw that the 
tree of knowledge was a delight to the eyes. 
This was no reason for eating from it, for surely 
that would not add to the beauty of the tree. 
The temptation offered to Jesus, however, was 
reasonable and powerful. From the top of an 
exceeding high mountain he sees, as a panorama 
spread out beneath Him, all the Kingdoms of the 
world and the glory of them. Satan does not 
risk the use of the Spirit's sword again, for it 
cut his own hand when he tried it. But in des- 
peration he unmasks himself and flatly proposes 
that the Son of God shall fall down and worship 
him. "All these things will I give thee." There 
is no longer a doubt introduced as to this Man 
being God's Son. The proposition is without any 
such suggestion. The subtle If is omitted. It 
was a plain bargain : Worship Satan, and Jesus 



5 o SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

should at once become the King of the Whole 
Earth. 

This is the gist of the matter and this is the 
devil's last ditch. He can go no further. The 
Lord Jesus speaks one word of command : "Get 
thee hence, Satan," and then thrusts at him again 
with the sharp two-edged sword — "It is written, 
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him 
only shalt thou serve." 

It is not surprising that then the devil left 
Him; and it is beautiful to read that the angels 
came and ministered to Him. They had hovered 
about eager to serve the Lord, but they must not 
interfere and rob Him of the glory of the vic- 
tory. Now that the battle is won, however, they 
may perform their labor of love. It reminds one 
of Abram's experience when just after refusing 
to take so much as a thread or a shoe-latchet from 
the King of Sodom, lest he should say, "I have 
made Abram rich" — "after these things the word 
of Jehovah came unto Abram in a vision saying, 
Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy ex- 
ceeding great reward." (Gen. 15: 1.) It often 
transpires that, only after we have resisted the 
offers of the enemy, do we learn that our suffi- 
ciency is of God. 

It is worthy of note that Jesus chose all His 
answers for the tempter from the book of Deu- 
teronomy. No wonder the devil hates Deuter- 
onomy, and has brought about it such a storm 
of destructive criticism in these last days. He 
has felt the keen edge of the sword in this par- 



THE KING'S JOURNBYINGS. 51 

ticular part of it, and he would like to be rid of 
it if he could. But the old book still stands, and 
it will stand, for it is the Word of God. 

The question is often raised as to whether 
there was any possibility of Jesus falling before 
the tempter's power. I answer, No. He was 
God in the flesh, and God cannot be tempted with 
evil. He was ever holy, harmless, undefiled and 
separate from sinners. If someone objects that 
in that case there was no temptation, I answer 
that though there was no desire on Jesus' part 
to yield to the devil's allurings, yet there was real 
temptation, in the sense of testing, and this is 
the meaning of Hebrews 4: 15, which being lit- 
erally translated reads : "For we have not a High 
Priest who cannot sympathize with our infirmi- 
ties, but Who has in all points been tempted like 
as we are, apart from sin." That is, He did 
not have the inward craving for evil things, as 
you and I have, for that would be indwelling 
sin, and there was no sin in Him. He is never- 
theless quite able to sympathize with us, for He 
made us and knows us altogether. 

If Jesus had failed under the test, His failure 
would have proved, not that God could sin, but 
that Jesus was not God. For in this sense, "God 
cannot be tempted with evil." (Jas. 1 : 13.) 

The King's Journeyings 

The remainder of our chapter deals with the 
Galilean ministry of Jesus. The Judean min- 
istry is omitted by Matthew though described 



52 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

by John, for in that ministry Jesus was not 
preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, the Jewish 
leaders having already rejected it in rejecting its 
herald and forerunner, John the Baptist. Jesus, 
before going into Galilee, spent the greater part 
of a year in Judea, teaching to individuals the 
doctrine of personal salvation by grace through 
faith. The record is found in the first four chap- 
ters of John and omitted by the synoptists. The 
reason is clear. The salvation preached by Jesus 
was salvation through His own death and resur- 
rection. Matthew, Mark and Luke have not to 
do primarily with the dead and risen Christ, but 
rather with the Man Jesus according to the 
flesh; Matthew drops the story after the temp- 
tation and never resumes it until Jesus is up in 
Galilee nearly a year later and preaching the 
Gospel of the Kingdom, saying "Repent, for the 
Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Luke, in his 
Gospel of the Manhood, naturally tells us all 
about Jesus' visit to Nazareth, "where He had 
been brought up." Matthew barely mentions it 
(v. 13) and proceeds to point out that Jesus' 
going to dwell at Capernaum was in fulfillment 
of a Messianic prophecy. Galilee though a part 
of Palestine, was called "Galilee of the Gentiles," 
because the people there had become so apostate 
from God and had intermarried and intermin- 
gled with the Gentile peoples. It is as if the 
Prophet bad said "Heathenish Galilee!" 

The call of Simon and Andrew and James and 
John recorded in this chapter, was not at the 



THE KING'S JOURNEYINGS. 53 

time of their first meeting with Jesus. The Gos- 
pel of John tells us all about that. But this 
was a definite call to service. They were ready, 
for they straightway left their nets, their boats, 
their father, and their all, and followed Him. 
There is a great lesson here. These men had 
called Jesus Master and Lord, and therefore 
when He said "Follow me !" they were bound to 
do so. The Lordship of Jesus means this if it 
means anything. Nothing must be allowed to 
stand between Him and us, if He be our Lord. 
Father, mother, husband, wife, boats, nets, fish, 
property — everything must be subject to Him, 
for He is Lord. It was not an idle question 
Jesus asked when He said, "Why call ye me 
Lord, Lord, and do not that which I say?" (Luke 
6:46.) To obey is better than sacrifice. 

The last paragraph of the chapter is just a 
little picture of the Millennial glory. Bodily heal- 
ing is always a feature of the Kingdom and goes 
along with the preaching of the Gospel of the 
Kingdom. When Jesus comes back to earth to 
reign as King of kings and Lord of lords, all 
sickness and disease shall disappear. He will 
then be acknowledged as Lord of all and the 
whole earth shall be filled with His glory. In 
that Day we shall say : 

" 'Tis come — the glad millenial morn — 
The Son of David reigns, 
Sing, sing, O Earth! For thou art free, 
And Satan is in chains. 



54 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

"Rejoice, for thou shalt fear no more 
The ruthless tyrant's rod; 
Nor lose again the gracious smile 
Of thine incarnate God. 

"But chiefly Thou, O Solyma! 
Thou Queen of Cities, sing! 
With shouts of triumph welcome now 
Thy Morning Star, thy King. 

"O blessed Lord, we little dreamed 

Of such a morn as this : 
Such rivers of unmingled joy — 
Such full, unbounded bliss ! 

"And O how sweet the happy thought 
That all we taste and see, 
We owe it to the dying Lamb, 
We owe it, Lord, to Thee." 



THE LAWS OF THE KINGDOM 



Chapter 5 



The Sermon on the Mount is one of the most 
misunderstood passages in all Scripture. Much 
confusion has resulted here from a failure to 
"rightly divide the Word of Truth/' a principle 
of Bible interpretation all but forgotten in our 
day (2 Tim. 2: 15). On account of this failure 
to follow God's own plan of Bible study much 
of the current comment in connection with this 
great discourse of the Lord is misleading. 

For example, there is that cry heard every- 
where to-day— "Back to Christ!" What does 
it mean? Why, it is a deliberate proposition to 
substitute the Sermon on the Mount for the 
preaching of the Cross, as a means of salva- 
tion. "Never mind Paul," they say. "Paul was 
only a disciple after all, and Christ was Paul's 
Master. Never mind Paul, then. Back to Christ ! 
Back to Christ!" And there are preachers, too 
— whose exalted position amongst the Churches 
would suggest that they were ministers of the 
Gospel — preachers, wearing the livery of Heav- 
en — are saying, "The Sermon on the Mount is 
a big enough Bible for us." And they are preach- 
ing the ethics of Jesus instead of the blood of 
Jesus as the way of life. To the lost they say, 

55 



56 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

in effect, "Study the Sermon on the Mount and 
thou shalt be saved. Live according to its pre- 
cepts and heaven will be gained at last. Be 
poor in spirit, and thine is the Kingdom of Heav- 
en. Mourn, and thou shalt be comforted. Be 
meek, and thou shalt inherit the earth." 

What cruel mockery is this ! Surely, the blind 
are leading the blind and both leaders and fol- 
lowers are heading for the same ditch. As if 
a man, who is by nature a child of wrath, could 
thus make himself pleasing to God! Who is 
there in all the world that by his own volition 
can be poor in spirit, or mournful, or meek, or 
hungry and thirsty for righteousness. Can a man 
be meek by trying to be meek? Or can a man 
by his own effort make himself merciful, or 
pure in heart? And what is the use of telling 
a lost sinner — who himself is full of enmity to- 
ward God — what is the use of talking to that 
man about the blessedness of making peace, and 
that the peacemakers shall be called the sons of 
God. If this be the condition of sonship and 
salvation, he may as well give it up first as last, 
for he is helpless, and hopeless, and blind, and 
dead in his trespasses and sins. Peace? "There 
is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked/' * * * 
"The soul that sinneth, it shall die." 

Indeed, it is more than cruel mockery: it is 
wicked blasphemy. For what, after all, is the 
cause of this sudden stampede from Paul to 
Christ? It is nothing else than a determined ef- 
fort to get rid of the Cross. It is Unitarianism 



THE LAWS OF THE KINGDOM. 57 

gone to seed. The bloody Gospel is an offense 
to your modern refined Pharisee. It is the old, 
old subterfuge — "Let him come down from the 
Cross, and we will believe him. Jesus is all 
right; he was a good man, and we will gladly 
receive him — anywhere except on the Cross." 
I say again it is blasphemous. It makes the 
Cross of Christ of none effect and His death a 
needless sacrifice. 

But men cannot rid themselves of the Cross by 
appealing to Christ. It was Christ, and not Paul, 
Who declared that the Son of Man MUST be 
lifted up. It was Christ, and not Paul, Who 
told a high-toned Pharisee that he MUST be 
born again. It was Christ, and not Paul, Who 
taught that the grain of wheat MUST fall into 
the ground and die. There is no controversy be- 
tween Christ and Paul. To Paul was grace 
given to proclaim the doctrine of the Church, 
and through him the risen Lord continued to do 
and teach, as He Himself had begun while still 
in the world. (Ac. 1:1.) Paul was nothing at 
all in himself : he was proud to own that he was 
the bondslave of Jesus Christ. But Paul was 
also an Apostle of Jesus Christ and the doctrine 
of Paul is the doctrine of Jesus Christ. 

The Sermon on the Mount, then, is not the 
way of salvation for the sinner. Neither is it 
the rule of life for the Christian. The Lord 
Jesus had not yet established the Church of 
God when He preached the Sermon on the 
Mount. He is now Head over all things to the 



58 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

Church which is His body, and He has not neg- 
lected to give to His Church ample directions for 
her guidance, but these directions are not to be 
found in the Sermon on the Mount. The Ser- 
mon on the Mount is pure law, and the Chris- 
tian is not under law, but under grace. The 
Christian though he may have been formerly a 
Jew and thus under the Law, is now dead to 
the Law by the body of Christ and married to 
another: even to Him Who is raised from the 
dead. Christ hath redeemed him from the curse 
of the Law, being made a curse for him. 

If, then, the Sermon on the Mount be neither 
the way of life for the sinner, nor the rule of 
life for the believer, what is it? The answer is 
that the Sermon on the Mount is the code of 
laws of the Kingdom of Heaven, which King- 
dom, though for the time being rejected and 
held in abeyance, will one day be set up on 
this earth. Its capital will be at Jerusalem and 
the Law shall go forth from Mount Zion. At 
that time, "Jdiovah s h a u b e King over all the 
earth ; in that day shall Jehovah be one and His 
name one." (Ps. 2:6; Jer. 23: 5; Zech. 14:9.) 

In the Sermon on the Mount we have this 
King, Jehovah-Jesus, formally offering the King- 
dom to Israel in His own person. This offer is 
made in Galilee, for it had been offered through 
John the Baptist in Judea and rejected. The 
Anointed King in this great discourse plainly sets 
forth the nature of the proposed Kingdom and 
the laws by which He will govern the earth when 



THE SEVEN BEATITUDES. 59 

He re-establishes and occupies the throne of 
David. 

Far be it from me to say that this Sermon of 
Jesus is of no value to the Church of God. It 
is of great value. It is part of the Scriptures, 
and all Scripture is profitable. There is much 
in common between the Church and the King- 
dom, though they are far from identical. 

We who are now members of His body, the 
Church, are destined to reign with Christ over 
the Kingdom; therefore, we ought to have lively 
interest in the Laws of the Kingdom. Besides 
this, we shall find many eternal principles ex- 
pressed in the Sermon, which are always opera- 
tive. It is true even now that the poor in spirit 
are the truly "blessed," or "happy," as the word 
means. It is true even now that those that 
mourn, in the fellowship of His sufferings, shall 
be comforted. It is true always that the merciful 
shall obtain mercy and that the pure in heart do 
see God. 

The Sermon on the Mount is found only in 
Matthew. Luke gives a Sermon on the Plain, 
corresponding somewhat in substance, but it was 
evidently preached at a different time and place. 
It is fitting that the Laws of the Kingdom should 
be recorded in the Gospel of the Kingdom. 

The Seven Beatitudes 

The King's proclamation took place in the 
presence of great multitudes from Galilee and 
Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judea, and from 



60 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

beyond the Jordan (ch. 4:25) though it was ad- 
dressed directly to His own disciples, heirs of 
the Kingdom, whom He called apart unto Him- 
self and apart from the crowd, (ch. 5: 1.) He 
began by describing in seven beatitudes the heirs 
of the Kingdom as to their character. Mark you, 
He is describing persons, not as they ought to 
be, nor as they ought to try to be, but as they 
are. They are His workmanship; by the grace 
of God they are what they are. They have not 
become what they are by their own striving but 
by His great favor and power — it is God working 
in them both to will and to do of His good pleas- 
ure. (Phil. 2: 13.) 

First — "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for 
theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." They dis- 
covered their utter poverty, and, taking the place 
of paupers before God, they suddenly became 
rich. Having nothing and deserving nothing in 
themselves, all things became theirs. All this 
was because of the grace of their Lord Jesus 
Christ, Who, though He was rich, yet for their 
sakes He became poor, that they, through His 
poverty, might be rich. (2 Cor. 8: 9.) 

Second — "Blessed are they that mourn: for 
they shall be comforted." Having come to 
know the Lord Jesus, they became, like Him, 
men of sorrows and acquainted with grief. This 
is their high privilege, not only to believe on Him, 
but also to suffer with Him. This is fellow- 
ship with His suffering. It is just sympathy 
with Him, seeing things as He sees them and 



THE SEVEN BEATITUDES. 61 

feeling with Him as He yearns over this lost 
world. They shall be comforted when He is 
comforted. When He sees the travail of His 
soul and is satisfied, then shall they, too, be sat- 
isfied, awakening with His likeness. 

Third — "Blessed are the meek : for they shall 
inherit the earth." The Spirit of the Master is 
upon them and He is meek and lowly in heart. 
Meekness is never a human product; it is ever 
the fruit of the Spirit. It speaks of surrender 
to God, knowing His way is best. They shall 
inherit the earth, for it belongs to Christ and 
Christ belongs to them and they to Him. Chil- 
dren of God are they, and heirs, jointly with 
Christ. 

Fourth — "Blessed are they that hunger and 
thirst after righteousness: for they shall be 
filled." Xo unsaved sinner ever hungered or 
thirsted after righteousness. He may desire 
mercy, but he knows that if righteousness were 
meted out to him it would mean death. 

"No thief e'er felt the halter draw 
With good opinion of the Law," 

and it is natural that the sinner under sentence of 
death should desire anything but righteousness. 
But it is different with the heir of the Kingdom. 
He has met the claims of the Law, having died 
unto it in the person of his Substitute, and now 
his whole soul yearns within him for righteous- 
ness. The will of God, once terrible to him, has 
become his meat and drink. And he shall be 



62 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

filled! Blessed be God for that promise! He 
shall be filled and lack nothing, having righteous- 
ness and nothing but righteousness within him. 
Sin all gone, and he is filled with righteousness ! 
Not yet is this true for us, my fellow-Christians, 
for though we are, in our standing before Him, 
free from sin, yet the fight with the flesh is not 
over ; but in that day we shall be filled with un- 
mixed righteousness. Blessed, indeed, is this ! 
They shall be filled. 

Fifth — "Blessed are the merciful: for they 
shall obtain mercy. ,, This is the first beatitude 
of the last section, for like all the sevens in 
Matthew, this seven is divided into a four and 
a three. The first four, this being the earth 
number, describe the earthly condition of the 
heirs while waiting for the Kingdom to appear. 
The final three, this being the heavenly number, 
speak of the heirs exercising their official func- 
tions, in the Kingdom. First, then, they are 
merciful, for they have become partakers of the 
divine nature. And the mercy that they them- 
selves received is not earned or attained by their 
own mercy toward others: rather it is obtained 
or found, as a gift. 

Sixth — "Blessed are the pure in heart, for 
they shall see God." The purity here is not 
merely cleanness of heart, but rather singleness 
of heart. The heart is fixed ; it is fully occupied 
with God. They shall see God. Their com- 
munion with Him shall be uninterrupted, for 
they have free access by His grace. 



THE BLESSEDNESS OF THE HEIRS. 63 

Seventh — "Blessed are the peacemakers, for 
they shall be called the sons of God." This 
is ever the highest, holiest work of the heirs of 
the Kingdom. It is their joyous privilege to 
make peace between God and men. Christ has 
made peace through His Cross, and God was in 
Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, but 
He lias committed unto His disciples the min- 
istry of reconciliation. And sonship can manifest 
itself in no surer way than this : God's sons hold- 
ing forth the Word of Life, that men may have 
peace with God; and where there is peace be- 
tween man and God, there will also be peace be- 
tween man and man. 

This, then, as Dr. Weston puts it, is the seven- 
runged ladder by which the poor beggar mounts 
upward. "Destitute, sorrowing, meek, hungry, 
he is forgiven, a trusted official, a son. Grace 
stands at the foot of the ladder, mercy in the 
middle, peace at the head; so the benediction 
of the beloved disciple sums up these beatitudes: 
'Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father 
and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the 
Father, in truth and love be with you.' " 

The Blessedness of the Heirs 

The seven beatitudes, showing the character of 
the heirs, are followed by two others, showing 
the real blessedness of their position in the 
world. If they are true heirs of the Kingdom, 
the world will hate them and persecute them. 
This is a causg of rejoicing for them, for great 



64 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

is their reward in heaven. The heirs of the 
Kingdom are the salt of the earth, to arrest the 
process of corruption. The salt must be genu- 
ine or it is worthless. They are the light of 
the world, to light up the way to peace and 
safety. The light must be allowed to shine, for 
the glory of the Heavenly Father. 

"Every Jot and Tittle" 

As to the Law and the Prophets — that is, the 
Old Testament Scriptures — the King decrees 
that they are not to be set aside; every jot and 
tittle shall be accomplished. "Whosoever, there- 
fore, shall break one of these least com- 
mandments, and shall teach men so, shall 
be called least in the Kingdom of Heav- 
en: but whosoever shall do and teach them, 
he shall be called great in the Kingdom 
of Heaven. For I say unto you, that except 
your righteousness shall exceed the righteous- 
ness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no 
wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." (Vs. 
19, 20.) 

These words have been used in a way that our 
Lord never intended, in order to place Christians 
in this Dispensation under the yoke of the Mo- 
saic Law. As a matter of fact, every Christian, 
so far as the Law is concerned, is a dead and 
buried sinner. He has died to the Law, and it has 
no more dominion over him. He is now free from 
the Law, because he died to satisfy its claims. 
In the person of his Substitute he fulfilled the 



"EVERY JOT AND TITTLE." 65 

demands of the Law. The Law can never be 
fulfilled in any other way by any man. The 
Law demands that the sinner shall die, and un- 
less you have died you have not fulfilled the Law. 
If, on the other hand, you died to the Law by 
the body of Christ, you have fully satisfied the 
Law and it can smite you no further. To be 
sure, you have also risen from the dead, but the 
Law had nothing to do with your resurrection — 
it took grace to do that: and in the eyes of the 
Law you are a dead man. 

"Free from the Law, O happy condition! 
Jesus hath bled and there is remission, 
Cursed by the Law, and bruised by the Fall. 
Grace hath redeemed us, once for all." 

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith 
Christ hath made you free, and be not entangled 
again in the yoke of bondage. ,, For verily,this 
righteousness, which the Gospel hath brought 
unto us, greatly exceeds the righteousness of 
the Scribes and Pharisees. 

The Law of the Kingdom of Heaven is much 
higher and deeper than the Law of Sinai. 
Moes said, "Thou shalt not kill." Jesus, look- 
ing upon the heart, said, "Thou shalt not hate." 
He also taught that religious ceremonies could 
never make up for sin of the heart. (Vs. 21-26.) 

Moses said, "Thou shalt not commit adul- 
tery." Jesus said, "Thou shalt not sin in thy 
heart." The thing to be avoided was not merely 
the outbreaking of evil, the outward result of 



66 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

indwelling sin, but the horrid thing itself. Men 
are often greatly distressed about their tres- 
passes and forget that the real trouble is within. 
Sin must be overcome at any cost, even though 
it may mean the sacrifice of an eye or an hand. 
As for divorce, it may be resorted to for one 
single cause, but there is no warrant here for 
remarriage. Again, Moses said, "Thou shalt 
not swear falsely. ,, Jesus said, "Swear not at 
all. * * * * Let your speech be, Yea, yea; 
Nay nay," and whatsoever is more than these is 
of the evil one." (Vs. 33-37.) "Let your 
moderation be known unto all men; the Lord is 
at hand." (Phil. 4:5.) 

The Law of the Kingdom of Israel, under the 
Old Covenant, said, "An eye for an eye, and a 
tooth for a tooth." In the Kingdom of Heaven, 
the Law will be, "Resist not him that is evil: 
but whosoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek, 
turn to him the other also, and if any man 
would go to law with thee and take away thy 
coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whoso- 
ever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him 
two. Give to him that asketh thee, and from 
him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou 
away." (Vs. 38-42.) This, as has already been 
said, is Kingdom teaching primarily; yet, the 
principle is the same always. We are even now 
to act in love and to overcome evil with good. 

It had been said aforetime, Love thy neighbor 
and hate thine enemy. (See Lev. 19:18; Deut. 
2 3 : 3"6.) Jesus said, "Love everybody." Why? 



" EVERY JOT AND TITTLE." 67 

"That ye may be sons of your Father." Men 
may be regenerate and His sons in that sense, 
and yet be very unlike Him in their dealings 
with each other. Jesus wants His disciples to 
love men in such a way as that the world shall 
recognize the family relationship. God is the 
pattern for them to imitate, and there is prom- 
ise as well as precept in the words, "Ye there- 
fore shall be perfect, as your Heavenly Father 
is perfect." The precept we lay to our hearts, 
and in the power of the Holy Spirit shall ever 
reach upward, seeking to be perfect as our 
Heavenly Father is perfect. The promise we 
joyfully grasp, and like Paul and his ship- 
wrecked company we cast our anchors and pray 
for the Day — even the Day when the righteous 
shall shine forth as the sun, in the Kingdom of 
their Father. Then — 

"At length — the final Kingdom, 
No bound, no end possessing; 
When Heaven and Earth — God, all in all, 
Shall fill with largest blessing. 
All root of evil banished, 
No breath of sin to wither, 
On earth — on high — 
Naught else but joy, 
And blissful peace for ever." 



THE KING'S FATHER 



Chapter 6 



It must surely have sounded strange to Jew- 
ish ears to hear the Prophet of Nazareth speak 
of God as a Father. In the meaning He at- 
tached to the term, it was a new title for God. 
The Jew had always thought of Him as the 
Great and Dreadful God, from Whose presence 
men were ever debarred and from Whose person 
they were ever separated by a great and guilty 
distance. The Prophets had often assured Israel 
of God's everlasting love, and through Jeremiah 
had come the word, "I am a Father to Israel, 
and Ephraim is my first-born" (Jer. 31:9), yet 
the way into the Holiest had always been closed 
and even to favored Israel there was no free 
access into the presence of God, nor was such 
a thing dreamed of as familiar intercourse with 
Him, as between children and their Father. 

Seventeen times in the Sermon on the Mount 
alone did Jesus speak of God as the Father. 
And not only did He refer to God as His own 
Father : indeed, there is but one such reference 
to Him and that the very last of the seventeen 
(Matt. 7:21.) In every other case it is either, 
"your Father which is in heaven," or "thy 
Father," or "our Father," as the disciples were 
taught to address Him in prayer. 

68 



FATHERHOOD AND BROTHERHOOD. 69 

Fatherhood and Brotherhood 

Now it is a favorite device of the devil to 
disseminate error under the cover of truth, as 
one might introduce poison by means of a sugar- 
coating. And out of this precious truth of di- 
vine Fatherhood which Jesus brought from 
heaven to earth, Satan has made the sugar- 
coating for the poisonous doctrine, so widely 
taught in this day, known as the Universal Fa- 
therhood of God and the Universal Brotherhood 
of Man. There is just enough truth in the doc- 
trine to make the error palatable. There is a 
sense in which God is the Father of us all, for 
by creation we are His offspring. He hath made 
us and not we ourselves. And as He is in this 
sense the Father of all men, so it follows that all 
men are brothers. So much of the doctrine is 
true. But we are asked to go much further. We 
are told by these latter-day prophets that because 
God is the universal Father in creation, and all 
men were made of one blood for to dwell on the 
face of the earth, therefore there is no proper 
distinction between men in their relation to God. 
Take off the sugar-coating, and bare the poison, 
and what have you here ? No judgment for sin, 
for God is equally the Father of all : if some are 
saved, all are saved; there is no distinction. No 
Cross, for the all-Father is too merciful to pun- 
ish anybody. No Saviour, and no salvation, 
for there is no need. Let us love one another 
and let us be liberal and broad, for we all came 



;o SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

from the same kind Father Who is not willing 
that any should perish, and We are "all going to 
the same place/' which He has prepared for His 
children ! 

This is the teaching which goes forth to-day 
not only from infidel lecture bureaus and plat- 
forms, but also from so-called Christian pulpits. 
It is found with more or less sugar, not only in 
the confessedly atheistic literature of the day, 
but also in the professedly evangelical books 
and periodicals. One needs not to look far in 
any direction to find the slimy trail of the old 
serpent. Yet there is need of the anointed eye 
to discover his presence, for he is always in 
ambush and one needs constantly to pray for 
quickness of scent to detect the enemy's work, 
for he is busy in the least-suspected places. One 
of his most fruitful fields is in connection with 
the so-called " Sunday School helps." This is 
frequently a misnomer, for they are often hind- 
rances rather than helps. 

Now, what is the truth about the Fatherhood 
of God and the Brotherhood of Man, as the 
Lord Jesus taught it? It is not to be found in 
Matthew, for that is the Gospel of the Kingdom 
and the heirs are already the children when 
they enter into the Kingdom. We know that 
they became children of God by faith in Christ 
Jesus ; and if children, then heirs ; heirs of God 
and joint-heirs with Christ. We know all that, 
but we never learned it through Matthew's Gos- 
pel of the Kingdom. In Matthew the term "Fa- 



FATHERHOOD AND BROTHERHOOD. 71 

ther" is applied to God forty-three times, and in 
twenty-one of these instances He is mentioned 
as Father to the disciples, but it is always as- 
sumed that His Fatherhood is an established fact, 
and it is nowhere explained how the relation- 
ship came about. Five times in Mark's Gospel 
of Service is God called Father — twice as the 
Father of Jesus, once simply as "the Father," 
and twice as Father of the disciples. We are not 
informed in Mark how men became God's chil- 
dren. Luke's Gospel of the Manhood of Jesus 
mentions God twice as "the Father," eight times 
as Jesus' Father, and three times as Father to 
the disciples of Jesus. But, like Matthew and 
Mark, Luke does not tell us how this Father- 
hood came to be. 

Now, turn to John, the Gospel of the divine 
Son of God, and what do you find? Ah, here 
you find all about it. One hundred and four- 
teen times in this Gospel the title "Father" is 
applied to God — but, mark you, He is never 
called the Father of anyone but Jesus, until the 
very end of the book. Once, in Ch. 8:41, the 
Jews claimed God as their Father, but Jesus 
sharply rebuked them, saying unto them, "If 
God were your Father, ye would love Me : for I 
came forth and am come from God; for neither 
have I come of Myself, but He sent me. Why 
do ye not understand my speech ? Even because 
ye cannot hear My word. Ye are of your 
father, the devil, and the lust of your father 
it is your will to do * * * If I say truth, why 



72 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

do ye not believe Me? He that is of God 
heareth the words of God: for this cause ye 
hear them not, because ye are not of God." 

It is John who tells us that Jesus "came to 
His own and they that were His own received 
Him not ; but as many as received Him, to them 
gave He the right to become children of God, 
even to them that believe on His name : which 
were BORN, not of blood, nor of the will of 
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." 
(Ch. 1:11-13.) In John we read of Jesus' 
interview with Nicodemus, during which that 
ruler in Israel was plainly told that he mast be 
born again, or be for ever shut out from the 
Kingdom of God. And it is in that same chap- 
ter, the third, that Jesus declares the necessity 
of His own death on the Cross in order that 
men might be born again and thus become chil- 
dren of God. (Vs. 14-16.) And it was not 
until He had died the awful death of the Cross 
and gone down into the grave, and come forth 
in triumphant resurrection, that He ever spoke 
of His disciples as His brothers. "Go to My 
brethren," said He to Mary of Magdala," and 
say to them, I ascend unto My Father, and 
YOUR Father; and My God and YOUR God." 
(Ch. 20: 17.) He was bringing many sons unto 
glory, having been made in all things like unto 
them. He was now not ashamed to call them 
brethren, and He was on the way to His Father 
and their Father with the glad word upon His 
lips, "Behold, I and the children which God 



REALITY IN THE KINGDOM. 73 

hath given Me." This, then, is the Bible doc- 
trine of God's Fatherhood. "Whosoever be- 
lieveth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God," 
and none other. 

Reality in the Kingdom 

The sixth chapter of Matthew abounds with 
warnings against merely outward religiousness. 
The King admonishes the heirs of the Kingdom 
against hypocrisy and formalism. "Take heed 
that ye do not your righteousness before men, 
to be seen of them ; else ye have no reward with 
your Father Which is in heaven." (V. 1.) 
God, Who "desireth truth in the inward part," 
tells us everywhere in His Word of His abhor- 
rence of unreality. God hates sham, wherever 
it is. It is true for the Kingdom not only, but 
for the Church also, that the thing to be desired 
is heart-fellowship with God, Who seeth in 
secret. (Vs. 2-4.) Prayer and fasting should 
not be mere outward forms, to be seen of men, 
but matters of real communion with the Father. 
(Vs. 5-18.) The hearts of God's children and 
heirs should be centered on God, and all their 
treasure should be deposited with Him and not 
with men ; in heaven and not upon earth : for 
where their treasure is there will their heart be 
also. (Vs. 19-21.) Singleness of heart and 
purpose is the thing most to be coveted. "A 
double-minded man is unstable 'in all His ways." 
(James 1 :8.) No man can serve two masters. 
It is impossible for any man to be fully yielded 



74 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

to two masters. It is either God or Mammon; 
it cannot be both. It is either heaven or this 
world; one or the other must go. Friendship 
with the world is enmity against God and if the 
disciples are really children and heirs, and if 
they truly realize their position as such, they will 
surely be setting their affections on the things 
that are above and not on the things that are on 
the earth. (Vs. 22-24.) And if this be theif 
attitude, all anxiety will disappear as mist before 
the sun; for anxiety is unbelief and they can- 
not doubt Him on Whom their affections are 
really set. They will not be troubled about 
themselves and their need of food and raiment, 
for their Heavenly Father knoweth that they 
have need of all these things. They will seek 
first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and, 
as a matter of course, all these things shall be 
added unto them. As for the morrow, it would 
surely be foolish for children of the living God to 
worry about to-morrow, for He will be living 
to-morrow as well as to-day. (Vs. 25-34.) 

All this is for the heirs of the Kingdom, but 
we who are already children will one day be re- 
vealed as the heirs; and all this in principle is 
for us also ; and not only for the future, but for 
the present. Language almost identical with 
this is addressed to the church in Phil. 4:4-7: 
"Rejoice in the Lord alway: again I will say, 
Rejoice. Let your forbearance be known unto 
all men. The Lord is at hand. In nothing be 
anxious; but in everything by prayer and sup- 



PRAYER IN THE KINGDOM. 75 

plication with thanksgiving let your requests be 
made known unto God. And the peace of God, 
which passeth all understanding, shall guard 
your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus." 
May the Lord deliver us from sinning against 
Him by worrying about anything! Let us be 
thankful. 

"I have nothing to do with to-morrow; 
My Saviour will make it His care. 
Should it be filled with trouble or sorrow, 
He will help me to suffer and bear. 

"I have nothing to do with to-morrow; 
Its burdens, then, why should I share? 
Its grace and its strength I can't borrow, 
Then why should I borrow its care?" 

Prayer in the Kingdom 

The so-called Lord's Prayer is found in this 
chapter and deserves more than passing notice. 
Distinctively, the Lord's Prayer is that prayer 
offered by the Lord Himself in the seventeenth 
chapter of John. The Lord did not offer the 
prayer in Matthew 6, but taught it to His dis- 
ciples in connection with the Kingdom. If we 
must have a special title for it, it would be better 
to call it the Kingdom Prayer or the Disciples' 
Prayer. It is found in this form in Matthew 
only, though in Luke n a similar prayer was 
given to the disciples, in response to their urgent 
appeal that Jesus should teach them to pray as 
John had taught his disciples. 



76 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

One approaches the discussion of this prayer 
with some hesitation, for it has a so generally ac- 
cepted place among the Churches everywhere, 
that one is considered irreverent or even blasphe- 
mous who attempts to put it in its proper place, 
in the Christian mind. The prayer is perfect 
and beautiful in its proper place, but when it is 
removed from that place and put where its Au- 
thor never intended it to be, it becomes a grievous 
occasion of stumbling to the people of God. 

It ought to be unnecessary to remark that the 
prayer is not for unbelievers. It is a wicked 
thing to encourage those to use this prayer, 
whether in public or privately, who reject the 
Gospel and tread under foot the Son of God. 
How can an unbeliever approach God with the 
words, "Our Father," upon his lips. Indeed, 
he cannot approach God at all, until he has re- 
ceived the Lord Jesus Christ and become God's 
son by the new birth. "No man cometh unto 
the Father but by Me." 

On the other hand, a Christian cannot con- 
sistently use the Kingdom Prayer, because the 
prayer is based upon law and not upon grace. 
How can we pray, "Forgive us our debts as we 
forgive our debtors ?" Is the Lord Jesus ad- 
dressing the Church of God when he says, "If 
ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly 
Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive 
not men their trespasses, neither will your Father 
forgive you your trespasses?" Surely not, For 
God's forgiveness for ourselves is dependent not 



PRAYER IN THE KINGDOM. 77 

upon our forgiveness of others, but upon our 
relation to Christ, in Whom we have redemp- 
tion through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, 
according to the riches of His grace. (Eph. 
1:7.) We are not to work for forgiveness, for 
we already have it; and we are nowhere 
instructed to pray for forgiveness. Even when 
we fall into sin, we are not instructed to ask 
for forgiveness, but rather to confess our sins 
and He is faithful and just to forgive us our 
sins and to cleanse from all unrighteousness. 
(1 John 1:9.) And we are not to forgive others 
in order to be forgiven ourselves : rather, we are 
to be kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, 
even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us. 
(Eph. 4:32.) 

It is sometimes said that this prayer applies to 
God's dealings with us in governmental disci- 
pline. An unforgiving spirit towards our breth- 
ren interrupts our communion with God, and 
then He dealeth with us as sons in chastening. 
But even in such a case the Father's forgiveness 
does not wait upon our forgiveness of one an- 
other. It waits rather upon our confession of 
sin; and it is always based upon the work of 
Christ, and not upon any "works of righteous- 
ness which we have done." 

The Kingdom Prayer will have its proper and 
full use in a time yet future. After the coming 
of our Lord for His people and the catching-up 
of the Church, there will be a believing Remnant 
of Jewish disciples raised up, who will go every- 
where preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, 



78 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

saying, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is 
at hand." This Gospel of the Kingdom will 
then be preached in all the world for a testimony 
to all nations before the end of The Great 
Tribulation shall come and the Son of Man shall 
appear in His Second Advent — His coming to 
judgment. The Jewish Remnant will be terri- 
bly persecuted under the awful reign of the 
Antichrist and the power of Satan. (Rev. 13.) 

Then shall they pray to their Father in heaven. 

"Hallowed be Thy name," shall they pray. 
The name and number of the Beast is over 
everything and they long for the blessed time 
when even upon the bells of the horses shall be 
written, "Holiness unto Jehovah." 

"Thy Kingdom come!" shall they cry, for 
the Kingdom of Evil has full sway everywhere. 

"Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on 
earth!" This is their heart's desire after tast- 
ing the bitterness of His reign who worketh 
according to his own will. 

"Give us this day our daily bread." The boy- 
cott is against all who refuse to receive the 
mark of the Beast upon them, and they can 
neither buy nor sell anything. It is their ex- 
tremity and God's opportunity. He who fed 
Elijah shall also feed these who are His elect 
and are crying unto Him day and night. 

"And forgive us our debts, as we also have 
forgiven our debtors." This is proper Jewish 
ground and that will be the ground of their 
acceptance in that Day. 



PRAYER IN THE KINGDOM. 79 

"And bring us not into temptation, but deliv- 
er us from the Evil One." That will be the aw- 
ful Hour of Temptation which shall come upon 
all the world to try them that dwell upon the 
earth. (Rev. 3: 10.) "Abandon us not to trial," 
is their plea, as they begin to feel the terrible 
power of the enemy. (Emphatic Diaglott trans- 
lation.) 

This is the end of the prayer, as in the Revised 
Version, the remaining sentence in the King 
James Bible being an interpellation. 

It is to be observed that the name of the Lord 
Jesus does not occur in the prayer. Just before 
His crucifixion our Saviour gave to His disciples 
some instruction concerning prayer for the Day 
when He should be absent from them. It is 
Church and not Kingdom teaching, and thus is 
found in John and not in Matthew. He said: 
"In that Day ye shall ask Me nothing. Verily, I 
say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father 
in My name, He will give it you. Hitherto 
ye have asked nothing in My name: ask, and 
ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. * * * 
At that day ye shall ask in My name : and I say 
not unto you that I will pray the Father for you : 
for the Father Himself loveth you, because ye 
have loved Me, and have believed that I came 
from God." (John 16:23-27.) 

This is the Magna Charta of the Church of 
God. "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in 
My name, He will give it you." Apart from 
Christ we can do nothing, but in Him all things 



80 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

are possible. In us, that is in our flesh, dwel- 
leth no good thing: but in Him dwelleth all the 
fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we are com- 
plete in Him, Who is the head of all principality 
and power. His name is the name which is 
above every name, and God has decreed and de- 
clared that at the name of Jesus every knee shall 
bow, of things in heaven and things in earth 
and things under the earth, and that every tongue 
shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the 
glory of God the Father. 

This, O Church of the Living God, is thy con- 
quering sign — the name of Jesus. "The name 
of the Lord is a high tower : the righteous run- 
neth into it and is safe." In giving thee His 
name He hath given thee all things — all things 
are thine. He hath even given Himself to thee, 
and thou art His, and he is God's. Defeat is im- 
possible for thee, for thou hast believed in the 
name of the only begotten Son of God. The 
gates of hell shall not prevail against thee, for 
they tremble at the name of Jesus. Thank God, 
then, and take courage. Be not weary in well 
doing, for in due time will come the reaping. Be 
ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in 
the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that 
your labor is not in vain in the Lord. 

"And whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do 
all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving 
thanks to God the Father through Him." 



PRINCIPLES OF THE KINGDOM 



Chapter 7 



In the concluding chapter of the Sermon on 
the Mount the Anointed King sets forth the 
principles of His Kingdom. Let us bear in 
mind that He spoke these words to His disciples 
as believing Jews, and representing primarily 
the nation of Israel in the relation it will sus- 
tain in the heavenly Kingdom when that King- 
dom is set up upon the earth. 

And yet we must not forget that the King's 
words were addressed to the disciples as heirs 
of the Kingdom of Heaven, and although these 
teachings are not for the government of the 
Church of God as such, still they are written 
down for our admonition and instruction in the 
things pertaining to the future Kingdom; and 
they abound in great moral principles, which are 
always operative. 

There is a real difference between a moral 
law and a moral principle on which such law 
is based. For example, when God thundered 
from Sinai and said to Israel, "Thou shalt not 
kill," He issued a law against murder. The 
basis of this law is the eternal moral principle 
that murder is wrong. Now God has never 
said to the Church, "Thou shalt not kill." He 

81 



82 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

has never put the Church under law at all. 
And yet the moral principle that murder is wrong 
is still true, and God has not failed to give the 
principle to the Church, though He has not 
given her the law. 

Judging 

The opening words of this seventh chapter of 
Matthew are often given a very wrong applica- 
tion in connection with the administration of the 
Church of God. The King's command, "Judge 
not, that ye be not judged," is frequently urged 
as an argument against all exercise of discipline 
in the Church. Now the Church has received 
from her Lord and His accredited Apostles 
most explicit directions to guide her in the ex- 
ercise of judgment. In Matthew's Gospel itself 
our Lord gave instruction for the guidance 
of the then future Church in this matter, in 
chapter 18, verses 15-20. These instructions 
cannot be obeyed without the exercise of judg- 
ment, first on the part of the individual in de- 
termining that his brother has sinned against 
him, and then on the part of the Assembly in 
deciding whether the aggrieved member has 
judged rightly. Again, in the specific case of a 
member of the Corinthian Church who was living 
in open and flagrant sin, the Spirit wrote by the 
Apostle, in 1 Cor. 5 19-13, expressly commanding 
the Church to judge the man and exclude him 
from its fellowship. "Put away the wicked 
man from among yourselves." In the next 



JUDGING. 83 

chapter the Apostle upbraids the believers 
for going to law before the unrighteous, and 
declares that matters in dispute ought to be 
brought before the Church instead of the courts. 
"Dare any of you," he asks — "Dare any of you, 
having a matter against his neighbor, go to law 
before the unrighteousness, and not before the 
saints? Or know ye not that the saints shall 
judge the world? and if the world is judged by 
you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest mat- 
ters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? 
how much more, things that pertain to this life? 
If then ye have to judge things pertaining to this 
life, do ye set them to judge who are of no ac- 
count in the Church ? I say this to move you to 
shame. Is it so, that there cannot be found 
among you one wise man, who shall be able to 
decide between his brethren, but brother goeth to 
law with brother, and that before unbelievers? 
Nay, already, it is altogether a defect in you, that 
ye have law-suits one with another. Why not 
rather take wrong? Why not rather be de- 
frauded?" (Vs. 1-8.) 

A careful examination of the King's com- 
mand, "Judge not, that ye be not judged/' 
together with its context, will reveal its mean- 
ing. He never intended that His disciples should 
set aside all exercise of the sense of judgment, 
but rather that they should not apply to others 
any judgment which they would be unwilling 
to have others apply to them. We may and we 
must judge that which is openly and mani- 



84 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

festly evil, and separate ourselves from it. We 
may and we ought to exercise the discernment 
God has given us, as to outward acts : but there 
we must stop, for we can know nothing as to 
the inward motives. To the same Corinthian 
Church which He commanded to judge and to 
put away the openly sinful and wicked man, 
Paul wrote, in i Cor. 4:5, saying, "Judge noth- 
ing before the time, until the Lord come, Who 
will bring to light the hidden things of darkness 
and counsels of the hearts ; and then shall each 
man have his praise from God." Here was a 
matter involving hidden things of darkness and 
counsels of the hearts. In such matters we are 
forbidden to judge, for we can know nothing of 
any man's heart-motives. God is able to look 
upon the heart, but man may look only upon the 
outward appearance. 

We are, however, commanded to judge our- 
selves, for we know our own hearts well enough 
to know that many an outward action which 
looks fair enough to our brethren is after all 
selfish and sinful. When we are honest enough 
with ourselves to judge ourselves, it is a health- 
ful exercise. But often we excuse ourselves 
and refuse to judge righteous judgment; and 
then God is compelled to deal with us. As it is 
written: "If we would judge ourselves, we 
should not be judged. But when we are judged, 
we are chastened of the Lord, that we may not 
be condemned with the world." (1 Cor. 11: 
31, 32.) This judging of ourselves will keep 



JUDGING. 85 

the beams out of our own eyes and help us the 
better to remove the motes from our brother's 
eyes. For the heir of the Kingdom' is not 
commanded, either here or elsewhere, to permit 
his brethren to go on in sin or error without 
seeking to deliver them. It is only that in order 
thus to serve them, he must himself have the 
single eye. Thus the Apostle exhorts the Chris- 
tian Church in Gal. 6:1, 2: "Brethren, even if a 
man be overtaken in any trespass, ye which are 
spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meek- 
ness ; looking to thyself, lest thou also be 
tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so 
fulfill the law of Christ." 

That the single eye is needed by the children 
of the Kingdom is shown by verse 6. They 
must be able to discern between truth and error. 
Thus only shall they be delivered from giving 
that which is holy to the dogs, and casting their 
pearls before swine. If they feel themselves 
altogether insufficient for this work of discern- 
ment, let them ask wisdom of God, Who giveth 
to all liberally and upbraideth not. (James 1 : 
15.) For every one that asketh receiveth, and 
he that seeketh findeth, and to him that 
knocketh it shall be opened. God is their 
Father and therefore He delights in giving good 
things to them that ask Him. He only desires for 
His children that in administering the Kingdom 
they shall do unto others whatsoever they would 
that others should do to them; for this is the 
Law and the Prophets. 



86 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

The Two Ways 

There is but one way into the Kingdom. The 
gate is narrow : Jesus said, "I am the Way." 
The way is clearly pointed out by Him Who also 
said, "I am the Truth." And it leads unto life 
! — for He is our life, even He Who said again, 
"I am the Life." There are two gates and two 
ways, but they face in opposite directions and 
lead to opposite goals. "Enter ye in by the 
narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is 
the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many 
be they that enter in thereby. For narrow is 
the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth 
unto life, and few be they that find it." This is 
a timely word in these days, when liberality 
passes for piety, and to be broad means to be 
brotherly. May the Lord help us willingly to 
take our place with Him, even though men may 
be pleased to call us "narrow!" It is a proud 
qualification, when borne with Him and shared 
by Him. 

False Prophets 

Beware of false prophets. They are sheep 
outwardly, but wolves inwardly and really. How, 
then, may the disciple know them? For has 
he not only just now been forbidden to attempt 
to judge, as to inward things? He is to know 
them by their fruits, and these are outward 
things. The false prophet is to be judged by his 
prophesyings. A false teacher is to be tested by 



HEARING AND DOING. 87 

his teaching. "If they speak not according to 
the Word, it is because there is no light in them." 
(Isa. 8:20.) One does not need to examine the 
roots of a vine to determine whether it be a grape- 
vine or a thornbush. Figs do not grow on thistle 
weeds, nor do thistles grow on a fig-tree. The 
corrupt tree will finally be destroyed and in 
the meantime, though the fruit of the Spirit 
may be imitated, the counterfeit will be recog- 
nized by those who are led by the Spirit of God 
and are therefore the sons of God. "Wherefore 
by their fruits ye shall know them." It is quite 
possible for men to prophesy in the name of the 
Lord, and even to cast out demons and do many 
wonderful works, and yet so fail of essential and 
personal and vital connection with Him, as to 
render all their so-called service of no account. 
"I never knew you;" this is the word awaiting 
them. "Depart from me, ye that work iniquity !" 

Hearing and Doing 

In the final paragraph of the Sermon on the 
Mount, Jesus reveals the great fundamental 
principle of life and growth of the Kingdom of 
Heaven. There is no life without the hearing 
and doing of the Word and will of God: and 
there is no growth worth while which is not 
based upon obedience. Everything depends upon 
the foundation. If we are building upon The 
Rock we are safe. Jesus Himself is the Eternal 
Rock upon which His people are building their 
house. "Other foundation can no man lay than 



88 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." (i 
Cor. 3:11.) 

The Great Teacher 

Surely, no man ever spake like this Man. "And 
it came to pass, when Jesus ended these words, 
the multitudes were astonished at His teaching: 
for He taught them as One having authority and 
not as the scribes." He is the Great Teacher, 
at Whose feet every other teacher may sit to 
fill his little measure. Grace is poured into his 
lips, and when He speaks, His words have the 
almighty power of God in them. How glad the 
day when He shall come again ! Do not our 
eager hearts long for the sound of His voice, 
when He Himself shall descend from heaven 
with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel 
and with the trump of God, to catch up to Him- 
self in the air all His living and sleeping saints, 
to be forever with Him? Aye, we confess it. 
We are serving the living and true God and wait- 
ing for His Son from heaven. He is just at 
the door, and He may cross the threshold at any 
moment and come for His Bride. "Amen, even 
so, come Lord Jesus !" 

And then, afterwards, He will come back to 
the earth, with His saints, to reign in Mount 
Zion gloriously. It is His own word. He is 
now callir-g out the Church, gathering out of the 
nations a people for His name. "And to this 
agree the word of the Prophets ; as it is written, 



THE GREAT TEACHER. 89 

"After these things I will return, 

"And I will build again the tabernacle of David, 

which is fallen; 
"And I will build again the ruins thereof, 
"And I will set it up : 
"That the residue of men may seek after the 

Lord, 
"And all the Gentiles, upon whom My name is 

called, 
saith the Lord, who maketh these things known 
from the beginning of the world." (Acts 15: 

14-18.) 

The house of David is now in ruins and his 
crown is worn by no man upon the earth. 
Twenty-five centuries ago God said of this crown 
(Ezek. 21 : 26, 2j) : "Remove the mitre, and 
take off the crown : this shall be no more the 
same: exalt that which is low and abase that 
which is high. I will overturn, overturn over- 
turn it : this also shall be no more, until He come 
Whose right it is, and I will give it Him." 

What a blessed hope is ours ! The Church of 
God awaits the Morning Star, even her Lover 
and Bridegroom, Who may at any moment pierce 
the heavens with His triumphant cry — "Come 
up hither!" (Rev. 4: 1.) 

And He is also the Hope of Israel. Speaking 
of that, day, the Lord assured the Jewish Prophet, 
saying, "Thy people also shall be ALL right- 
eous, they shall inherit the land for ever; the 
branch of My planting, the work of My hands, 
that I may be glorified. The little one shall be- 



po SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

come a thousand, and the small one a strong 
nation: I Jehovah will hasten it in its time." 
(Isa. 60:21, 22.) 

And He is also the Hope of the Gentile world 
— the heathen world, now sitting in darkness and 
in the shadow of death ; for then shall they that 
come of Jacob take root: Israel shall blossom 
and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit. 
(Isa. 27:6.) For this the whole Creation is 
groaning and travailing in pain. For in that 
Day the Creation itself shall be delivered from 
the bondage of corruption into the glorious lib- 
erty of the sons of God. 

"He comes ! He comes ! the Bridegroom comes ! 

The Morning Star appears: 
The cloudless morning sweetly dawns; 

Saints, quit this vale of tears: 
Your absent Lord no longer mourn; 

Reproach no longer bear; 
He comes ! He comes ! rise, happy saints, 

To meet Him in the air. 

"He comes! He comes! the Son of Man! 

The second Adam now; 
The King of kings and Lord of lords! 

All knees before Him bow. 
He comes ! His Israel in the Land 

Of Promise to install; 
He comes ! He comes ! to clear away 

The ruins of the Fall. 

"He comes! He comes! the Bridegroom comes! 

Oh, sinner, hear the sound, 
Accept Him now, if you among 
His chosen would be found: 



THE GREAT TEACHER. ox 

Still mercy's offered — costless — free — 

No longer turn away; 
He comes ! He comes ! Oh ! linger not, 

Come while 'tis called to-day." 



A PICTURE OF THE KING 



Chapter 8 



With the eighth chapter we enter upon a new 
main division of the book. The King has appeared 
according to the Scriptures, and His Kingdom has 
been formally proclaimed, together with the laws 
for its government. In the next five chapters, 
the eighth to the twelfth inclusive, we are to see 
the King manifested as such to His people, who, 
however, have no heart for Him and finally re- 
ject Him altogether. 

What a picture is presented to us in this chap- 
ter! The Prince of the House of David comes 
down from the mountain and great multitudes 
follow Him. Let us behold Him, for this our 
God. This is He of Whom it is written, "Unto 
us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and 
the government shall be upon His shoulder : and 
His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsel- 
lor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince 
of Peace. Of the increase of His government 
and of peace there shall be no end, upon the 
throne of David and upon His Kingdom, to es- 
tablish and to uphold it with justice and with 
righteousness from henceforth even for ever. 
The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts will perform this." 
(Isa. 9:6, 7.) 

Look upon Him then. He has left all and 
92 



A PICTURE OF THE KING. 93 

come down to this poor, wretched, sin-cursed 
earth— this rebellious province in His Universe 
— to bring peace from the God of Peace. He 
was born King of Jews, born of a woman, made 
under the Law, that He might redeem His peo- 
ple out of the hand of the enemy. He now pre- 
sents Himself to them as the Son of David, the 
Son of Abraham, the true and lawful Heir to the 
throne. 

And what a truly glorious King He is ! As 
He moves majestically along, surrounded by this 
immense throng, disease and death flee from be- 
fore His face. The awful plague of leprosy 
disappears at the touch of His mighty hand, for 
this is the hand that created the world and all 
things that are therein. A helpless paralytic, 
lying at a distance, bounds from his bed in per- 
fect health and strength at the word of the ab- 
sent King, and no wonder, for it is by the Word 
of His power that He upholdeth all things. A 
mother in Israel, lying sick of a fever, is per- 
fectly healed by a touch from Him Whose touch 
quickens all things. Even the Creation itself is 
perfectly subject to Him when He rebukes the 
wind and the sea, and all nature lies in quiet 
subjection at His feet. And when Satan throws 
off the mask and thrusts his unclean spirits into 
the King's pathway, they are consigned to the 
swine and driven into the sea. 

And yet the people did not want Him — they 
would not have this Man to reign over them. 
King of Heaven and Earth though He was, 



94 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

He had no place to lay His head. Faith was so 
nearly gone out of Israel, that our Lord mar- 
veled when the Roman centurion believed in 
Him, saying, "With no man in Israel have I 
found so great faith." Even His own disciples 
were so frightened by the storm that they ac- 
tually looked the King in the face and said, ""We 
perish!" And when He had stilled the sea it 
never occurred to them that they had Immanuel 
on board — God with them — but they only asked 
one another, "What manner of man is this?" 
And, for a climax, we have the citizens of 
Gadara positively preferring their swine to the 
Lord of Life and Glory, and begging Him to 
leave their country ! 

Dispensational Signs 

The miracles recorded in this chapter are not 
given in their chronological order. The arrange- 
ment here is peculiar to Matthew, and the Holy 
Spirit's obvious purpose in thus selecting and 
presenting these records is to set them forth in 
their dispensational sequence and significance, 
with reference to the Kingdom. Thus in verses 
I to 17 there are four signs, showing unmis- 
takably the rejection of the Messiah by His own 
people Israel; followed by the present period, 
the Lord being absent from the earth, but still 
at work here by His Word, though chiefly among 
the Gentiles; then His return with blessing to 
the Jew first and also to the Gentile. 

The leper who came to Him and worshiped 



DISPENSATIONAL SIGNS. 95 

Him, saying, "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst 
make me clean" (verses I, 2,) is a figure of the 
Remnant in Israel who believed on Him. Lep- 
rosy is ever a type of sin in all its corrupting 
power. Though the nation as such received 
Him not, there was a little company — here and 
there one — who came to Him and worshiped 
Him. To all such Jesus was indeed Jehovah- 
Ropheca — the Lord, their healer. He must 
needs touch them, in all their defilement, and 
this is the eyes of the Law would defile Himself. 
And it was even so, for Him Who knew no sin, 
God made to be sin on their behalf, that they 
might become the righteousness of God in Him. 
(2 Cor. 5:21.) The healing is effectual. He 
stretched forth His hands and touched him, say- 
ing "I will; be thou made clean. And straight- 
way his leprosy was cleansed. " Then Jesus sent 
him, in obedience to the Law, to the Priest. 
This was a testimony unto them, (v. 4), and 
it should have convinced the priests that God 
was indeed in the midst of Israel, for everyone 
knew that only God could heal leprosy. But the 
priests were never heard from. They were not 
seeking after God; they were too busy with 
empty forms and ceremonies to attend to this 
heavenly Visitor. They were offering their 
ceaseless oblations and sacrifices unto God afar 
off, and failed to discern that God was standing 
in their midst, waiting to be gracious. Ritualism 
was occupying the rightful place of communion. 
Jesus enters Capernaum and is besought by a 



96 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

centurion whose servant is sick of the palsy and 
grievously tormented. It is another type of sin. 
Jesus offers to come to the sick man, but the 
centurion declares that it is not necessary. "Only 
say the word and my servant shall be healed." 
Jesus marveled, for here was a believer, and he 
a Gentile. It was a foreshadowing of the dawn- 
ing Dispensation. Speaking to them that fol- 
lowed, the King declared that in Israel He had 
not seen such faith, and that the time was com- 
ing when many should enter the Kingdom from 
the east and the west while the natural children 
of the Kingdom, that is, the people of Israel, 
should be excluded. Then to the centurion He 
said, "Go. thy. way; as thou hast believed, so be 
it done unto thee/' and the servant was healed 
in that hour. 

Capernaum means "the place of consolation," 
and it may speak to us of consolation for Jesus 
as well as for the centurion. As Isaac found 
comfort in Rebecca after his mother's death 
(Gen, 24:67), so this our Isaac has great joy 
i$ the people which He is now gathering from 
the Gentiles for His Name. The key- word of 
the Dispensation is that given to the centurion 
— "As thou hast believed, so be it done unto 
thee." He went back to his home, walking by 
faith. He no longer saw his Lord, but he be- 
lieved Him ; and though the work of healing was 
done in the Lord's absence, yet it was lacking in 
nothing, for He had said the Word. No Word 
from Him is void of power.. 



DISPENSATION AL SIGNS. 97 

All this is precious — to us and to Him — but 
Israel is on His heart. He cannot give them up. 
They are a stiff-necked people, but His patience 
has no limit, and His love never weakens. Be- 
sides, has He not promised ? Has not the Word 
proceeded out of His mouth ? And is God, after 
all, only a man, that He should lie? Or a son 
of man, that He should repent? He will return 
to His own, and His people shall be willing in 
the day of His power. (Ps. no.) 

Peter's sick mother-in-law is a fit picture of 
Israel in her present condition. She is sick, and 
that speaks of helplessness. Helpless, indeed, 
is Israel, for she knows not Him Who alone 
can help her. She is sick of a fever, and that 
speaks of restlessness. Long ago did Jehovah 
her God, through Moses, warn her of the time 
when she should find no rest for the sole of her 
foot. He does not mean her to find rest until 
she finds it in Him Who cried in her ears when 
she would not hear — "Come unto Me and I will 
give you rest." But, thanks be to God, she is 
not comfortable. Her fever is running high, 
and she is casting about for a remedy. Many 
are the physicians who have tried their skill in 
her behalf. Baron Hirsch prescribed American 
colonization, and American colonization was 
tried. The result was discouraging, though col- 
onies were established in North and South Amer- 
ica. For the most part they are deserted vil- 
lages, for Israel's land is in neither North or 
South America. Then came Dr. Herzl and 



9 8 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW, 

Zionism. According to his prescription there 
must be a Jewish state in Palestine under the 
suzerainty of Turkey. The Sultan was favor- 
able to the plan until the time came for executing 
it, when he changed his mind, and then Dr. 
Herzl died. The next physician was Israel 
Zangwill. His scheme was a Jewish colony 
in Africa and he obtained an offer from the 
British Government of a tract of land for the 
purpose in the Soudan. But the Zion Congress 
rejected the proposition, declaring that Israel 
wanted to locate in or near Palestine. Then 
came the dethronement of Abdul Hamid, and 
to-day we see the tide of Israel flowing towards 
the promised land. 

Meanwhile, the fever increases. Israel is 
everywhere agitated and excited as never before 
in modern times. And is there no help? Is 
there no relief for the sick woman? "Is there 
no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? 
Why then is not the health of the daughter of 
my people recovered ?" (Jer. 8:22.) The 
Great Physician is near. The time to favor Zion, 
yea, the set time is come. He is just at the door 
and He will soon enter. Apart from Him there 
is no help for the sick woman, but He is all- 
sufficient. When Peter's Lord shall return to 
Peter's house, then He will see her, lying sick. 
He will touch her hand, for He will not then 
be absent but present, and she will look upon 
Him Whom she pierced. And then, instantly, 



DIVINE HEALING. 99 

the healing will come, the fever will leave her; 
and she will arise and serve Him. 

And what will follow ? Why, the whole world 
awaits the healing of Israel. As soon as Israel 
is delivered from the fever of unbelief and re- 
bellion, she will arise and minister unto her 
Lord; and then shall they bring unto Him many 
possessed with demons; and He will cast out 
the spirits with a word, and heal all that are 
sick — and then shall it be fulfilled which was 
spoken through Isaiah the Prophet, saying, 
"Himself took our infirmities and bore our dis- 
eases. " It is a picture of the blessing to come 
upon the whole world after the return of the 
King and the conversion of Israel. Their fall 
is the riches of the world even at this moment, 
and their loss is the riches of the Gentiles ; how 
much more their fullness? If the casting away 
of them be the reconciling of the world, what 
shall the receiving of them be, but life from the 
dead? (Romans 11:12, 15.) 

Divine Healing 

Much confusion has resulted from a failure 
just here to "rightly divide the Word of Truth." 
Many who emphasize the so-called doctrine of 
Divine Healing base their teaching upon such 
scenes as we are now considering in the eighth 
chapter of Matthew. And we are told that be- 
cause Jesus Himself took our infirmities and 
bore our diseases, therefore it is contrary to His 
will that His disciples should now have any in- 



ioo SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

firmities or diseases. It is all very plausible and 
attractive, especially in this day when even the 
Lord's people are so unwilling to enter into the 
fellowship of His sufferings, or to be made 
conformable unto His death. Without enter- 
ing into the subject more fully here, it is worth 
while to point out that bodily healing is a char- 
acteristic feature of the Kingdom, and is usual- 
ly associated in the Scriptures with the Gospel 
of the Kingdom. In the Church of God it is 
not characteristic but exceptional. The reason 
is that the Church is appointed to a ministry of 
suffering. The glory is yet to be revealed, for 
it belongs to the Kingdom and will not come to 
the Church until the Kingdom is manifested. It 
must be remembered that the infirmities that He 
took included death itself as well as disease. 
And we cannot rightly claim to be delivered 
from disease until death has been abolished in 
fact as well as by promise. Potentially, all this 
has been accomplished on the Cross, but the 
Lord's people are still dying, and will continue 
to die until the Day of Adoption, to wit, the re- 
demption of our body. 

All confusion in this matter would be cleared 
up if God's people would stop reading Church 
truth into the Gospel of the Kingdom and re- 
member that the manifestation of the Kingdom 
is deferred until the Church is completed. As 
for the sufferings of this present time, we reck- 
on that they are "not worthy to be compared 
with the glory that shall be revealed to us-ward. 



DIVINE HEALING. 101 

For the earnest expectation of the Creation wait- 
eth for the revealing of the sons of God. And the 
Creation itself shall be delivered from the bond- 
age of corruption into the liberty of the glory 
of the children of God. For we know that the 
whole Creation groaneth and travaileth in pain 
together until now. And not only so, but our- 
selves also, who have the first-fruits of the 
Spirit, even ourselves groan within ourselves, 
waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemp- 
tion of our body. For in hope were we saved : 
but hope that is seen is not hope; for who 
hopeth for that which he seeth? But if we 
hope for that which we see not, then do we with 
patience wait for it." (Romans 8: 18-25.) This 
Scripture ought surely to make it clear that 
though we are already children of God, the rev- 
elation of that fact is yet to come; that though 
our bodies have been bought with the redemp- 
tion blood, we have not yet entered into the full 
benefit of it, nor can we until the great Day of 
Adoption — to wit, the redemption of our body — 
at our Lord's coming. It is of that Day that 
Paul writes to the Philippians, saying, "Our cit- 
izenship is in Heaven : whence also we wait for 
a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; Who shall 
fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that 
it may be conformed to the body of His glory, 
according to the working whereby He is able 
even to subject all things unto Himself. " (Phil. 
3 : 20, 21.) Or, as it is written again, "We shall 
all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of 



102 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

an eye. The dead shall be raised incorruptible 
and we shall be changed.'' And again, "We 
shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He 
is." And yet again, "When He shall be mani- 
fested, then shall ye also with Him be manifested 
in glory" — that is in a glorified state or condi- 
tion, (i Cor. 15:51, 52; 1 John 3:2; Col. 

3:30 

That will be divine healing, indeed. Mean- 
while let it be remembered that He is perfectly 
able to heal even now, when healing is according 
to His will, whether it be with the use of means 
or without. And if He deliver us from sickness, 
we shall be thankful; if he choose for us to suf- 
fer bodily affliction, we shall also thank Him, for 
He knoweth best, and He doeth it. Blessed be 
His holy name! 

Absolute Monarchy 

The absoluteness of the King's authority is 
emphasized in the remainder of the chapter. 
Though so completely rejected as to have no- 
where to lay His head, He still insists upon un- 
questioning obedience from those calling Him 
Lord. "Suffer me first to go and bury my fa- 
ther," said one disciple. To bury one's own fa- 
ther is surely a high and solemn duty, but there 
is a still higher obligation, and that is to obey the 
Lord. When he says "Follow Me," there must 
be no hanging back, no hesitation, no wavering. 
Is He your Lord? Then obey Him. Is He 
your Master ? Then yield to Him. Is He your 



THE BLESSED HOPE. 103 

Shepherd? Then follow Him. And when He 
says "Follow Me," do not reply, "Suffer me 
first." No, nothing else first: follow Him first. 
Was not that His word — Seek ye first the King- 
dom? This is the meaning of Lordship. 

The Blessed Hope 

The Church of God is tossed upon the sea of 
the world. The wind dashes against the little 
boat and it is apparently swallowed up by the 
waves. Her Lord is in the midst of her, but to 
unbelief He seems to sleep, not caring. He 
quietly arises and seeing the powers of darkness 
behind the storm, He rebukes the wind and the 
sea, and a great calm follows. It is a picture of 
His personal return. The waters * * * * are 
peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. 
(Rev. 17: 15.) "The wicked are like the trou- 
bled sea; for it cannot rest, and its waters cast 
up mire and dirt." (Isa. 57:20.) His creation 
is crying out for Him, and when He comes and 
speaks, there will be a great calm. 

The Power of Darkness 

In the final paragraph of the chapter (vs. 28- 
34) the King comes into direct contact with the 
realm of the evil principalities and powers, the 
rulers of the darkness of this world, the hosts 
of wicked spirits. Two victims come forth to- 
ward Him from the tombs, the place of death, 
possessed with demons. The King is recognized 
by the unclean spirits, who cry out at His ap- 



104 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

proach, saying, "What have we to do with Thee, 
Thou Son of God? Art Thou come hither to 
torment us before the time?" They know their 
Judge when they see Him, and they know also 
that there is coming a time of judgment. They 
are cast out of the human bodies they have pos- 
sessed and permitted to enter into a large herd of 
swine near by. Mark tells us that the swine 
numbered about two thousand. "And, behold, 
the whole herd of swine ran violently down a 
steep place into the sea, and perished in the 
waters/' 

This miracle, which is recorded in the Kingdom 
Gospel far out of its chronological order, is full 
of meaning. From it we learn that when the 
Kingdom is manifested, the King will not only 
bring about a great calm amongst the nations, 
but He will also bring swift judgment for the 
ungodly and disobedient. If I mistake not, the 
swine, in the Bible, is always a type of the 
merely outward professor of religion. In 
Leviticus 11:7 the Law provided that "the swine, 
because he parteth the hoof and is cloven-footed, 
but cheweth not the cud, is unclean." The 
cloven hoof is outward; chewing the cud is an 
inward and hidden thing. In Matt. 7 : 6 the 
King warned His disciples against giving holy 
things to dogs, or casting pearls before swine; 
the meaning being unmistakable. In Luke 15: 
15 the prodigal son sought and failed to find 
satisfaction in the swine's food, the husks the 
swine did eat. So, it is often seen that a child 



THE POWER OF DARKNESS. 105 

of God, out of communion with the Father, seeks 
enjoyment and comfort in the husks of this 
world. The mere professor can thrive on them, 
but different food is needed for the born son. 
Again in 2 Peter 2 the hypocritical professor 
who finally turns from the truth is set forth as 
a natural brute beast, a dog turned to his own 
vomit again and a sow that had washed to wal- 
lowing in the mire. It is a disgusting spectacle 
— the form of godliness with none of the power 
thereof — it is just "a jewel of gold in a swine's 
snout." (Prov. 11 : 22.) 

This miracle is very evidently a picture of the 
terrible judgments awaiting Christendom — that 
great mass of empty profession and hollow pre- 
tense. It will be spued out of the Lord's mouth, 
and though He will deliver His own little com- 
pany of witnesses from the power of the devil, 
He will turn that very power against the herd 
of swine, that great crowd of self-seeking hypo- 
crites who are always feeding near by. These 
shall all perish in the waters of judgment, be- 
cause they received not the love of the truth 
that they might be saved. And for this cause 
God sendeth them a working of error, that they 
should believe a lie ; that they all might be judged 
who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in 
unrighteousness. (2 Thess. 2: 10-12.) 

A truly sad commentary on the condition of 
the human heart is furnished by the last verse 
of our chapter. God was there and the whole 
city came out to meet Him. And when they saw 



io6 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW, 

Him they besought Him that He would depart 
from their borders. To be sure, He had wrought 
untold blessing and salvation for these two human 
souls, but two thousand swine had been de- 
stroyed and it was too costly. It was all very 
well to have religion, but religion must not in- 
terfere with business. God was all right, so 
long as He kept His place, but they did not want 
Him too near. If He stayed in their country 
it would ruin the pork industry, for God's Law 
had declared against swine flesh as food. Let 
Him depart from them, where though He might 
still see them, they at least would not have to 
see Him, face to face. How sad it is — how sad 
and how shameful! — "They besought Him that 
He would depart out of their borders !" God 
forbid that any to whom these words may come 
shall beseech Him to depart from them, but may 
we all receive Him, for it is written, "As many 
as received Him, to them gave He the right to 
become children of God, even to them that be- 
lieve on His name." 



THE KING REJECTED AND REJECTING 



Chapter 9 



As the eighth chapter of Matthew closes with 
one of the saddest utterances in all Scripture, 
so the ninth opens with one almost equally sad. 
In the former it is recorded that the whole city 
of Gadara met the Lord of Life and Glory at its 
gates and begged Him to go away. In the latter 
it is written that "He entered into a boat and 
crossed over, and came into His own city." 

Let us learn from this that though the Lord's 
outstretched hands are full of blessing for those 
who will have it, it is yet true that He does not 
force Himself upon those who do not want Him. 
Man, you may get rid of Jesus if you persist in 
rejecting Him. The door of grace is ajar to- 
day, but there is coming a time when the door 
will be shut. To-day is yours; to-morrow is 
uncertain. To-day if you will hear His voice 
and harden not your heart, you may come and 
welcome, but there is no assurance that you will 
have another opportunity. Now is the accepted 
time. Now is the day of salvation. Jesus is 
passing by. Call ye upon Him while He is near. 
Cry for your life, for in another moment He 
may be gone, and your doom eternally sealed. 

107 



108 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

"Haste thee away! Why wilt thou stay? 
Risk not thy soul on a moment's delay. 
Jesus is waiting to save thee; 
Mercy is pleading to-day." 

His Own City 

He came to Capernaum, "His own city !" How 
lovingly does the Spirit of Truth breathe those 
words, "His own city !" Thanks be to God, even 
in the day of His rejection there was left His 
own city — the city of consolation — where He 
found those that were looking for the redemp- 
tion of Israel. To be sure, Capernaum after- 
wards rejected Him and was terribly upbraided, 
but for the time being at least it was His own 
city. And it is the same to-day. In the general 
and disheartening apostasy everywhere prevail- 
ing there is yet a little band of believers who are 
looking for the coming of the Redeemer. This 
little company is without the camp, bearing His 
reproach. Capernaum means "the city of con- 
solation," and this faithful flock, longing for the 
appearing of the Chief Shepherd, is our Lord's 
consolation in this Day of Rejection; it is Caper- 
naum to Him, "His own city/' a place where He 
may lay His head. And for them— these who 
love His appearing — the glory is dawning. Here 
they have no continuing city, but they seek one 
to come. In the little meanwhile their rest 
is in Him and His rest in them — -"His own city." 

Into Capernaum a helpless paralytic is borne 
to Him, lying on a bed. Bodily healing, ever a 



PUBLICANS AND SINNERS. 109 

feature of the Kingdom, is sought and obtained, 
but it is preceded by the far more and important 
spiritual healing, the forgiveness of sins accord- 
ing to the riches of His grace. The scribes pro- 
test against this, and bring for the first time 
the charge of blasphemy against the King. He 
meets the accusation by proving His divine au- 
thority, but the result was discouraging; for 
though the people marveled and glorified God, 
it was not because He had Himself come down 
to dwell amongst men, but because He had given 
such authority unto men. The paralytic is a 
picture of a helpless sinner, who must be brought 
to Jesus in all his impotence and who receives 
power to walk. The expression, "He arose and 
departed to his own house," is suggestive of res- 
urrection. And indeed every conversion is a 
resurrection; the sinner hears the words of Jesus 
and believes Him that sent Him, and the instant 
result is that he "hath eternal life, and cometh 
not into judgment, but hath passed out of death 
into life. ,, (John 5:24.) Every time the Gos- 
pel is preached unto sinners, it is the dead hear- 
ing the voice of the Son of God, and they that 
hearken shall live. (John 5:25.) 

Publicans and Sinners 

That the blessing of the Lord is for all men, 
without distinction, is shown by the call of Mat- 
thew, the writer of this book we are now study- 
ing. He was a despised tax-collector under the 
hated Roman rule and was looked upon as an 



no SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

apostate by his fellow countrymen. But Jesus 
called him, saying, "Follow Me," and there was 
instant response. He arose and followed Him. 

And the blessing was not for Matthew alone 
among the Publicans, or for a few of them, one 
here and there. At dinner the King sits down 
with many Publicans and sinners. The Phari- 
sees are amazed at this, but Jesus presses home 
the truth that the outward religiousness of the 
Pharisees did not commend them to God. They 
themselves were also sinners, if they did but 
know it. But as they did not know it, and 
would not learn it, He had no mission to them. 
The Physician had not come to those who did 
not need Him. His call was not for the right- 
eous, but for sinners. He was about to die for 
the ungodly — the Just for the unjust, that He 
might bring us to God. This is a faithful say- 
ing, and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus 
Christ came into the world to save sinners. The 
Son of Man came to seek and to save that which 
was lost. 

Law and Grace 

The disciples of John the Baptist were puz- 
zled because the King's disciples did not fast, 
as they did themselves, and the Pharisees. The 
King reminded them that true fasting was a sign 
of mourning, and with the Bridegroom present, 
the sons of the bridechamber could not mourn. 
The days would come, however, when He should 
depart from them for a season and then there 



LAW AND GRACE. in 

would come the fasting. The fasting of the 
Pharisees was a matter of Judaism and the 
King had not come to patch up the old and rag- 
ged garment with the new cloth of the Gospel. 
He was too wise to try such a thing for He well 
knew that the experiment could not succeed. 
The new cloth, instead of filling up the hole in 
the garment, would tear it further and make 
the hole larger. The new wine of Christianity 
was not to be put into the old wineskin bottles 
of Judaism, for to try such a thing would be to 
destroy the meaning both of law and of grace. 
The skins would become useless and the wine 
lost. The new wine must have new wineskins 
and thus both should be preserved. 

Thus does the King warn His disciples against 
the admixture of the old religion of law-works 
and the new gospel of salvation by grace alone. 
And yet this is precisely what has been done 
throughout Christendom. Judaism has been 
patched up and adapted everywhere among the 
Churches and the old garment is labelled "Chris- 
tianity." The result is a confusing mixture, 
which is neither Judaism nor Christianity, but a 
ritualistic substitution of dead works for a trust 
in the living God. The new wine of free salva- 
tion has been poured into the old wineskins of 
legalism, and with what result? Why, the skins 
are burst and ruined and the wine is spilled and 
most of the precious, life-giving draught is lost. 
The Law has lost its terror, because it is mixed 
with grace; and grace has lost its beauty and 



ii2 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW, 

character as grace, for it is mixed with law- 
works. 

Now, may God Himself deliver us from any 
part in this grievous outrage! Either we are 
saved by grace, which is God's unmerited favor, 
or we are for ever lost. "But if it is by grace 
it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no 
more grace." (Romans 11:6.) We are not 
Antinomists — we do not plead for an excuse 
to sin — no regenerate man can do such a thing; 
but we insist that law and grace are two dis- 
tinct and contrasting principles which cannot be 
intermingled without destroying both. As Dr. 
Scofield puts it: "It is of the most vital moment 
to observe that Scripture never, in any dispensa- 
tion mingles these two principles. Law always 
has a place and work distinct and wholly diverse • 
from that of grace. Law is God prohibiting 
and requiring; grace is God beseeching and 
bestowing. Law is a ministry of condemna- 
tion; grace, of forgiveness. Law curses; grace 
redeems from that curse. Law kills, grace 
makes alive. Law shuts every mouth before 
God; grace opens every mouth to praise Him. 
Law puts a great and guilty distance between 
man and God; grace makes guilty man nigh to 
God. Law says, 'an eye for an eye and a tooth 
for a tooth;' grace says, 'resist not evil: but 
whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, 
turn to him the other also.' Law says, 'Hate 
thine enemy f grace, 'Love your enemies, bless 
them that curse you/ Law had few missiona- 



LAW AND GRACE. 113 

ries; grace is to be preached to every creature. 
Law utterly condemns the best man; grace 
freely justifies the worst. (Luke 23:43; Rom. 
5:5; 1 Tim. 1:15; 1 Cor. 6:9-11.) Law is a 
system of probation; grace, of favor. Law 
stones an adulteress; grace says, 'Neither do I 
condem thee." Under law the sheep dies for 
the shepherd ; under grace the Shepherd dies for 
the sheep. Everywhere the Scriptures present 
law and grace in sharply contrasted spheres. 
The mingling of them in much of the current 
teaching of the day spoils both, for law is robbed 
of its terror and grace of its freeness." ("Right- 
ly Dividing the Word of Truth/' by C. I. Sco- 
field.) 

Is it not significant that in this illustration the 
Lord Jesus speaks of a man instead of a woman, 
in connection with such household duties as 
sewing a patch on a garment and storing up wine 
in wineskins? In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, 
it is recorded the same way. Well, the Man has 
not done the patching, nor has He put the new 
wine into the old wineskins. It is the woman — 
that it, the professing Church, in a figure — who 
has wrought the mischief. And this has been 
the result of departing from the Word of the 
Man, Christ Jesus, and resorting to worldly de- 
vices, and organizations, and inventions. 

The separate order of Priesthood in the 
Churches is just a patching up of the old gar- 
ment. And this hateful error — and I speak de- 
liberately and advisedly: it is the doctrine of 



ii4 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

Nicolaitanism which thing He hates (Rev. 2: 
6, 15) — this hateful thing is found not only in the 
confessedly hierarchal Churches: none of us is 
free from it. God has made us an equal broth- 
erhood, but we are not content to have one Me- 
diator between God and man, the Man Christ 
Jesus : we must have someone between us and 
the Mediator. We must have a Priest, and so 
we make Priests out of our preachers. They 
are "Clergymen" and "Fathers" and "Rever- 
ends," and they must be better than other Chris- 
tians, for they are "ordained ministers !" Only 
they shall preach the Gospel with the authority 
of the Church ! Only they shall be permitted to 
pronounce a benediction! Only they shall bap- 
tize believers! Only they shall "administer the 
sacrament," which is supposed to mean the break- 
ing of the bread and the pouring of the wine at 
the Lord's Supper! 

My brethren — my "holy brethren"— you who 
call yourselves "laymen" — I appeal to you: I do 
not plead for liberty for the preacher to do 
wrong: God knows I have no desire for a lower 
standard for the Pastor; but I do plead for a 
higher standard for his fellow-members, his co- 
partners, his brother-Priests, his co-equal breth- 
ren in the body of Christ. Take your place be- 
side him. Stop looking to him as if he were 
your pattern— look to Jesus. "Cease from man, 
whose breath is in his nostrils." Call no man 
"Father" or "Reverend"— God. is your Father 
and Holy and Reverend is His Name (Psalm 



LIFE FROM THE DEAD. 115 

111:9). Let no man stand between you and 
your Christ, for He hath made us all Kings and 
Priests unto God, and the smallest, humblest 
member of His body is as near to Him as any 
other. Let us not speak of the clergy and the 
laity in the Church of God ; all such distinctions 
are for ever abolished and we are all one Man 
in Christ Jesus. 

Life From the Dead 

The next paragraph (verses 18-26) presents 
a beautiful typical and dispensational picture. 
The daughter of the Jewish ruler is a type of 
Israel, "the daughter of Zion." "My daughter 
is even now dead," is the message brought to the 
King's ears. "Behold, they say, our bones are 
dried up, and our hope is lost : we are clean cut 
off." (Ezekiel 37:11.) The King: has alreadv 
started on His way to raise her from the dead. 
He arose and followed the sorrowing: father, 
"and so did His disciples." (V. 19.) When He 
comes to raise up Israel His saints will come 
with Him. (Jude 14.) But on His way He 
is intercepted by a woman, who is delivered from 
an incurable disease by one believing touch of 
His garment. She is a type of the Church, saved 
parenthetically, between times, as it were, while 
Israel lies dead and hopeless, waiting for Him to 
come. 

Finally, He reaches the house, an alwavs sig- 
nificant expression in Matthew, and He stops all 
the signs of mourning, saying, "Give place; for 



■n6 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

the damsel is not dead but sleepeth." This is 
foolishness unto the crowd and they laugh Him 
to scorn. Nevertheless, He puts them all aside 
and the dead girl is raised to life. Thus it will 
be when He comes to judgment. Everybody is 
ready to furnish music for Israel's funeral, for 
all agree that Israel is dead. But when He comes 
He will put them all forth and then shall Israel 
rise up, and the fame of it will go forth into all 
that land. (V. 26.) 

Ephraim and Judah, the two branches of Is- 
rael, are like two blind men. In that Day they 
shall cry out, saying, "Have mercy on us, Thou 
Son of David," Then will He come into the 
house, and they will believe on Him, and they 
will see with their eyes and be healed. In that 
Day He will not charge them to tell no man, 
but He will send them everywhere with the good 
news. And they will spread His fame in all that 
land. (V. 31. Compare Isa. 66: 19, 20.) 

Israel is a dumb man, possessed with a demon 
under Satan's power. In that Day the demon 
will be cast out, and the dumb man will speak, 
and the multitudes will marvel. His enemies 
will explain that the Lord Jesus is yielded to 
Satan, and that "by the Prince of the demons 
casteth He out demons." What awful blas- 
phemy ! 

With Israel fully restored — raised from the 
dead, able to see and able to speak, great re- 
sults will follow. The Millennium will be at 
once introduced. Verse 35 is a picture of it: 



LIFE FROM THE DEAD. 117 

Jesus going about all the cities and villages, 
teaching in their Synagogues, and preaching the 
Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all manner 
of disease and all manner of sickness. 

This is what it will be when the King comes. 
In the meantime the multitudes are just like a 
great lot of sheep distressed and scattered, not 
having a shepherd. He is moved with compas- 
sion, and He puts the remedy into the hands of 
His disciples. That remedy is prayer. "The 
harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are 
few. Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, 
that He will send forth laborers into the har- 
vest." (V. 38.) 

And that is His plan, for the Kingdom not 
only, but also for the Church. Is it not true to- 
day that the harvest is plenteous ? "Lift up your 
eyes and look on the fields, that they are white 
already unto the harvest." (John 4:35.) And 
are not the laborers few? With all our boasted 
foreign missionary movements, we are only tri- 
fling with a great task, and our progress is back* 
ward instead of forward. And what shall we do 
about it? Do about it? What can we do about 
it? Apart from Him we can do nothing. But 
we can do all things through Him that strength- 
eneth us ; and it is our business to do this thing. 
It is not something that only a few can do. We 
can all pray ; and if we know not what we should 
pray for as we ought, the Spirit is here to help 
our infirmity; and He will lead us to pray the 
Lord of the harvest, that He may send forth 



ri8 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

laborers into His harvest. It is written, "Who- 
soever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall 
be saved. How then shall they call on Him 
whom they have not believed? and how shall 
they believe on Him whom they have not heard ? 
and how shall they hear without a preacher ? and 
how shall they preach, except they be sent?" 
And how shall they be sent, except He, the Lord 
of the harvest, shall send them. Otherwise their 
going is worse than their remaining at home. 
May God help us to pray ! 



THE KING AS LORD OF THE HARVEST 



Chapter 10 



Confusion must always result from failure to 
rightly divide the Word of Truth, and a good 
illustration of this rule is furnished by the tenth 
chapter of Matthew. The directions for the spe- 
cial mission of the twelve Apostles, for exam- 
ple, have been taken by many as a model for all 
preachers of the Word. It is therefore insisted 
that preachers should never work singly, but 
always in pairs. Also, that they should travel 
without money and without baggage. Medical 
missions are sometimes based upon the command 
found here, to heal the sick, as well as preach 
the Gospel. On the other hand those who teach 
the doctrine of "Divine Healing" and forego the 
use of medicines altogether, point to this chapter 
to prove that the Lord's program of evangeliza- 
tion includes miracles of healing along with the 
preaching of the Gospel. It seems to have es- 
caped their notice that the Apostles were au- 
thorized and empowered not only to heal the 
sick, but also to raise the dead. This item in 
the program is conveniently omitted. 

Now, I have no word of disparagement for 
medical missions, for I doubt not that God 
is pleased to use these instrumentalities for the 
spread of the Gospel, and when this great end 

119 



120 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW, 

is kept in view, there can be no reasonable ob- 
jection to the means employed. Nor would I 
deny the great truth of divine healing, whether 
with the use of means or without. But neither 
the medical missionary nor the "Divine Healer" 
has the right to appeal to the tenth chapter of 
Matthew for his warrant. 

The Church and the Kingdom 

The trouble is that somehow, in studying the 
Bible, we are always viewing it from the stand- 
point of the Church, as if the Church were every- 
where present, and always the center about which 
everything else revolved. Just as the ancient 
astronomers, beginning with the assumption that 
the earth was the center of the material Uni- 
verse, came to grief in their calculations; so the 
modern Bible reader, beginning with the assump- 
tion that the Church is the center of the spir- 
itual Universe, is landed in an inextricable maze 
of hopeless reasoning. It was only after the as- 
tronomers had discovered that the sun was the 
center about which the earth revolved, that they 
were able to arrive at satisfactory conclusions 
concerning the movements of the heavenly bod- 
ies. Even so, until the believer sees that not the 
Church, but the Son of God, is the center of 
everything in the spiritual realm, he is without 
the key to the Scriptures, and is unable to un- 
lock their sacred secrets. And this discovery 
does not depreciate the value or the dignity of 



THE CHURCH AND THE KINGDOM. 121 

the Church of God, any more than the astro- 
nomical discovery depreciated the value or dig- 
nity of the planet upon which we live. Though 
so small as compared with the great sun about 
which it moves, and though a rebellious prov- 
ince in the great Universe of God, yet is the earth 
greatly honored, for the Lord of Life and Glory, 
the Creator and Preserver of all things, Himself 
visited the earth in human form and laid down 
His life to bring this little planet back to Him- 
self and deliver it out of the hand of the enemy. 
Likewise the Church of the Living God, the 
pillar and ground of the truth, though so small 
and significant when compared with Him Who 
loveth her and hath loosed her from her sins in 
His own blood, yet how greatly honored is she ! 
The Church is His workmanship, His master- 
piece, His poem. (Eph. 2: 10, Gk) And just as 
the earth is yet to be the place of His dwelling 
and the seat of His throne, so the Church will 
be manifested as the bride of the Lamb, sharing 
His glory and majesty. 

Meanwhile, as to the interpretation of Scrip- 
ture, let it be carefully noted and remembered: 

First — That the Kingdom of Heaven and the 
Church of God are not identical, but very far 
from it. 

Second — That the Church was not yet in ex- 
istence during our Lord's personal ministry in 
the earth. Its beginning is found in the second 
chapter of Acts. 

Third — That the truth concerning the Church 



122 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

was never made known until the beginning of 
Paul's Apostleship (Eph. 3). We must not, 
therefore, except in types and symbols, expect to 
find it in Matthew. 

Fourth — That the Kingdom was offered to Is- 
rael, and only to Israel. 

Fifth — That the Kingdom, temporarily re- 
jected by Israel, is now held in abeyance until 
the Church is completed. 

Sixth — That the twelve Apostles were Israel- 
ites before they were Christians and that their 
ministry has a direct bearing toward the Jewish 
people, as well as toward the Church of God. 

Seventh — That the Gospel of the Kingdom is 
not identical with the Gospel of our Salvation. 

One of the best figures of the Church of God 
in the whole Bible is seen in Acts 10: 9-16, where 
Peter, falling into a trance, saw a great sheet let 
down from Heaven, filled with all manner of 
beasts and creeping things and fowls of the air. 
Peter, the strict ritualist, looked upon these 
things as unclean, as indeed they were, accord- 
ing to the Levitical ordinances. But God had 
cleansed them and therefore they were no longer 
unclean. By this vision Peter learned that God 
was no respecter of persons and that even the 
unclean Gentiles were eligible to the privileges 
of the Gospel of Christ — that whosoever, wheth- 
er Jew or Gentile, believeth in Him shall receive 
remission of sins. (V. 43.) Like the great sheet, 
the Church of God has a heavenly origin and a 



THE CHURCH AND THE KINGDOM. 123 

heavenly destiny. It has been let down out of 
heaven and it will be received up into heaven. 

But all this was unforeseen by the Old Testa- 
ment Prophets. This parenthetical Dispensation 
of nineteen centuries were hidden from them, 
and they searched diligently what or what man- 
ner of time the Spirit of Christ Which was in 
them did signify when He testified beforehand 
of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that 
should follow. (1 Peter 1:11.) Isaiah cried, 
"Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given ; 
and the government shall be upon His shoulder/' 
(Isa. 9:6.) But Isaiah did not know that be- 
tween the two parts of that sentence there should 
be an interval of nearly two millenniums. Ga- 
briel told Mary that she should bear a Son named 
Jesus; that He should be great, and that He 
should be called the Son of the Highest. He also 
told her that the Lord God should give unto Him 
the throne of His Father David : that He should 
reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and that 
of His Kingdom there should be no end. Ga- 
briel did not tell Alary — and probably Gabriel 
did not know it for it was yet a mystery hid in 
God — Gabriel did not tell the mother of Jesus 
that between the birth of the Son of the Highest 
and His ascension of David's throne there should 
be a gap of nearly two thousand years. And 
the Lord Jesus Himself, when in the tenth chap- 
ter of Matthew He gave directions to His dis- 
ciples, reaching down to the End-time and even 
to the Second Advent of the Son of Man (vs. 



124 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

22 y 23), did not inform them that that End-time 
and that Second Advent should be deferred for 
almost twenty centuries and preceded by the call- 
ing out from the Gentile nations of a people for 
His name. 

The Jewish Dispensation, in which Jesus lived 
upon the earth in the days of His flesh, had not 
been completed when the Church Dispensation 
began — and, indeed, it has not yet been com- 
pleted. The 490 years of Daniel's prophecy of 
the seventy weeks (Daniel 9) had not fully run 
their course when Messiah was cut off. Indeed, 
the terms of the prophecy provided for an in- 
terval of indefinite duration between the sixty- 
ninth and seventieth week of years, and the final 
week of seven years is pushed as it were, into the 
future, to make way for this parenthetical Age, 
while the Church of God, like her typical Apos- 
tle, is born as one out of due time. When the 
Church is complete — when the elect number, ac- 
cording to God's eternal purpose, has been called 
out — then shall the Church be caught up to meet 
her Lord in the air (r Thess. 4), and then shall 
at once begin the fulfillment of Daniel's final 
heptade of years. The Lord Jesus, in the tenth 
chapter of Matthew, has all this in mind, and 
gives His Apostles directions, not for the Church 
Age, but for the Jewish Age then present and 
including the time of "The Great Tribulation" in 
the final seven years. With this borne in mind, 
all in the chapter becomes clear. 



THE LORD OF THE HARVEST. 125 

If it be asked why, if all this be true, we 
should study this Scripture at all, suffice it to 
say that with all Scripture, it is given by in- 
spiration of God and is profitable. (2 Timothy 
3:16.) Though not given for the direct gov- 
ernment of the Church of God, it is still for her 
teaching, and so far as principles are involved 
it is for her guidance. Israel is, indeed, in the 
foreground of this Scripture, but all these things 
happened unto them for types and they are writ- 
ten for our admonition. (1 Cor. 10: 11.) 

The Lord of the Harvest 

In the first verse of our chapter, the King, 
having commanded His followers to pray the 
Lord of the harvest that He should send forth 
laborers into His harvest, now takes His place 
as Lord of the harvest and proceeds to unfold 
His plans for His ingathering. He first calls 
His twelve disciples unto Himself. All fruitful 
service in His harvest must begin just here. The 
laborer must first be called unto Him. And then 
He gives them authority. In this case it is au- 
thority to perform miracles. In any case, when- 
ever He sends forth the laborers, they go fully 
equipped for the labor unto which He appoints 
them. Many are sent forth by men, and they 
fail, as a matter of course. Many are self-sent, 
and they also fail, and quite as naturally. It is 
only those who go forth with His authority that 
can stand in the day of battle. 



126 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 
The Apostles 

The twelve disciples are first called Apostles 
here. An Apostle, in this connection, is one sent 
forth as a messenger, but with absolute authority 
as representing the Sender. The Apostles are 
named in pairs and thus sent forth, for accord- 
ing to Israel's law the testimony of two witnesses 
was true. (John 8: 17, Deut. 17:6; 19: 15.) 

In all the lists of the Apostles, given by the 
various Evangelists, Peter is named first. The 
reason for this will appear in the study of the 
sixteenth chapter. Judas Iscariot is invariably 
last named, and always with the terrible word, 
"who also betrayed Him." 

Mission of the Twelve 

In verses 6 to 15 there are rules of conduct for 
the special mission 6f the Twelve. They were to 
go only to Israel. The Gentiles had no part in 
their ministry for the time being. They were to 
preach the Gospel of the Kingdom as they went, 
saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." 
Literally, it is, "The Kingdom of the Heavens 
hath drawn near." It was the message of John 
the Baptist and also that of the Lord Jesus Him- 
self in all His public preaching up to this time 
in His ministry. It was a proclamation to Is- 
rael, a formal presentation of the Kingdom, with 
the King walking amongst them, ready to take 
His great power and reign, if His people were 
ready to receive Him. The ministry of the 



MISSION OF THE TWELVE. 127 

Apostles was to be attested by miraculous signs 
and wonders, for these are always accompani- 
ments of the Kingdom. Having received freely, 
they should also give freely. No provision was 
to be made beforehand for their support, for 
they were going amongst their brethren and the 
laborer was worthy of his food. They were to 
search out the worthy : that is, those having a 
heart for the message and willing to receive the 
messengers. As for those who should reject 
them, a terrible judgment was reserved for them. 
This little company of twelve men out of all 
Israel prefigured the Remnant of Israel who shall 
be raised up for this very purpose during the 
last days. Verses 16 to 23 describe the persecu- 
tions of that awful time, "The Great Tribula- 
tion," which will come upon Israel just before 
the Second Advent of the Messiah. The wit- 
nessing remnant will be as a little flock of sheep 
in the midst of the wolf -pack. They must be 
wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. They 
will be delivered up by men to the Jewish Coun- 
cils (literally, Sanhedrims) and scourged by the 
Synagogues as apostates and renegades. They 
will also be brought before Governors and Kings 
for the Lord's sake. They need not be anxious, 
however, for the Spirit of God shall guide them 
and speak through them. Families shall be sep- 
arated in that awful time, brother delivering up 
brother unto death, fathers turning against their 
children, and children against their parents. As 
for the witnesses, proclaiming the approach of 



128 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

the Kingdom and the coming of the King, they 
shall be hated of all men for His name's sake; 
"but he that endureth to the end shall be saved." 
(V. 22.) 

This expression is a key to the chapter. It 
is found repeated in Matthew 24:13, where 
"The Great Tribulation" is more fully described. 
It is for the encouragement of the witnessing 
Remnant in the terrible days of the Time of 
Jacob's Trouble. And the promise of verse 23 
will be a mighty incentive to endurance in that 
Day — "But when they persecute you in this city, 
flee into the next, for verily I say unto you, ye 
shall not have gone through the cities of Israel, 
till the Son of Man be come." It is a definite 
promise that the Remnant of Israel shall be pre- 
served through "The Great Tribulation." (Com- 
pare Matt. 24: 34.) 

The Lord Jesus, in Matthew 24, speaks at 
great length of His return as Son of Man at the 
close of the Tribulation period: "Immediately 
after the Tribulation of those days, the sun shall 
be darkened, and the moon shall not give her 
light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and 
the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and 
then shall appear to the sign of the Son of Man 
in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the 
earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man 
coming in the clouds of heaven with power and 
great glory. And He shall send forth His angels 
with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall 



ETERNAL PRINCIPLES. 129 

gather together His elect from the four winds, 
from one end of heaven to the other." 

Eternal Principles 

The remainder of our chapter is devoted to 
the enunciation of certain great and eternal prin- 
ciples, true always and applicable in any Age. 
The disciple is not above his master nor a ser- 
vant above his lord. It has pleased our Lord 
and Master to identify His disciples and ser- 
vants with Himself. If they suffer, it is in fel- 
lowship with His sufferings and the result of 
this identity with Him. Fear not, for the Day is 
coming when the hidden things of darkness shall 
be revealed. Be not afraid of men, who at most 
can only kill the body ; rather fear God, Who is 
able to destroy both soul and body in hell. He 
even attends to the sparrows, and as for His 
children, every hair of their heads is precious to 
Him. They have confessed His Son before men 
in a time of rejection. The Son therefore con- 
fesses them before His Father — His Father and 
theirs. Those who deny and reject Him shall 
themselves be denied and rejected. Even though 
there may be outward profession of loyalty to 
Him, as with Judas, yet with the heart reject- 
ing Him, the outward profession is but blas- 
phemy. 

Jesus is indeed the Prince of Peace, but the 
everlasting peace must be brought in through 
judgment. His word is a two-edged sword, often 
cleaving families assunder, and a man's foes are 



130 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

often those of his own household. Jesus de- 
mands the chief place in the heart's affection. 
Father, mother, son, daughter — all must take a 
subordinate place, for He is Lord. Only those 
are worthy of Him who take the Cross, and that 
means death to the flesh with all its schemes and 
ambitions. It is only thus that any man really 
confesses Jesus as Lord. 

And finally (vs. 40-42) the King reiterates the 
authority of His messengers and His own iden- 
tity with them. Men may reject them but it 
will be at their peril. "He that receiveth you 
receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth 
Him that sent Me. He that receiveth a Prophet 
in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Proph- 
et's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous 
man in the name of a righteous man shall re- 
ceive a righteous man's reward. And whosoever 
shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a 
cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, 
verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose 
his reward." 

What a gracious word is this! The Lord of 
Life and Glory thus takes His place as one with 
His people. "We are members of His body, of 
His flesh and of His bones," and "he that is 
joined to the Lord is one spirit." May God help 
us that we may ever be delivered from despising 
one of His little ones, remembering that in de- 
spising them we despise Him. May He ever help 
us that we may discern the Lord's body, in all 
its members ! 



ETERNAL PRINCIPLES. 131 

"O, blessing rich! For sons of men 

Members of Christ to be! 
Joined to the Holy Son of God 
In wondrous unity. 

"O Jesus, our great Head Divine, 
From Whom most freely flow 
The streams of life, and strength, and warmth 
To all the frame below; 

"Keep us as members sound and whole 
Within Thy body true ; 
Build us into a temple fair, 
Meet stones in order due. 

"Keep us good branches of Thy vine, 

Large store of fruit to yield; 

Keep us as sheep that wander not 

From Thy most pleasant field. 

"For one with God, O Jesus blest, 
We are, when one with Thee, 
With saints on earth and saints at rest, 
A glorious company." 



THE KING'S FACE TOWARDS THE 
CROSS 



Chapter n 



In this chapter we may clearly see the clouds 
of rejection and hatred gathering about the head 
of Israel's Messiah. He had come unto His 
own, and His own had received Him not. They 
had looked for a King, Who should bring de- 
liverance to Israel, and this Man was as a root 
out of a dry ground. He had no form nor come- 
liness, and no beauty such as they desired to see 
in Him. Thus He was despised and rejected of 
men; a Man of sorrows and acquainted with 
grief, and His own people, His kinsman accord- 
ing to the flesh, His beloved Israel, hid their 
faces from Him, despising Him and esteeming 
Him not. 

The Lamb of God was on His way to the 
Cross of Calvary. As the Sin-Offering for His 
people, He must die without the camp. He 
would bear their griefs and carry their sorrows, 
even though they abhorred Him. They esteemed 
Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted for 
His own sins. He was the Sinless One, ever 
holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sin- 
ners. But while enduring the contradiction of 
sinners against Himself, He had come to bear 
their sins, being wounded for their transgres- 

132 



FACE TOWARDS THE CROSS, 133 

sions and bruised for their iniquities. The chas- 
tisement of their peace was to be laid upon Him 
and with His stripes they should be healed. 
All they like sheep had gone astray; they had 
turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah 
had laid on Him the iniquity of them all. (Isa. 

530 

But were they not justified in looking for a 
great and glorious King? Had not God re- 
vealed through their Prophets that the Coming 
One should sit on David's throne, exalting His 
nation to the very highest place amongst the na- 
tions of the earth? Was it not written that Je- 
hovah should raise unto David a righteous 
Branch, and that a King should reign and pros- 
per and execute justice and judgment in the 
earth? That in His days Judah should be saved 
and Israel should dwell safely and that His name 
should be called Jehovah-Tsidkeenu ? (Jere- 
miah 23.) And had it not been promised over 
and over again that in connection with His ad- 
vent and exaltation as King over the whole earth 
(Zechariah 14) the people of Israel should be 
gathered into their own land, being for ever de- 
livered from the thraldom of alien rule? (Deu- 
teronomy 30: 1-6; Isaiah nth and 12th chapters; 
Ezekiel 36th and 37th chapters, etc.) 

Yes, all this is true. It is a great error to 
charge the people of Israel with gross and carnal 
views because they looked for a King and a 
Kingdom to be manifested on the earth. God 
had promised all this and much more. But the 



134 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

Scriptures also declared that this same Messiah 
should be a vicarious sufferer, bearing His peo- 
ple's sins. (See Isaiah 53, above.) He was to 
be crucified (Psalm 22:16; Zech. 12:10; 13: 
6) ; He must be cut off, though not for Him- 
self. (Daniel 9: 26.) 

The Jews, therefore, are not to be censured 
for believing the plain testimony of the pro- 
phetic Word concerning the Messiah's glory, but 
they ought to have gone on and believed also 
the equally plain testimony of that prophetic 
Word concerning the Messiah's suffering. It was 
for this that the risen Lord Jesus upbraided His 
own disciples whom He overtook on the way to 
Emmaus. (Luke 24.) "O fools," He exclaim- 
ed — "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all 
that the prophets have spoken ! Ought not Christ 
to have suffered these things, and to enter into 
His glory? And beginning at Moses and all 
the Prophets, He expounded unto them in all 
the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." 
(Vs. 25-27.) 

What would the same risen Lord say to-day 
to those disciples who have practically given up 
the Biblical hope of His return to fulfill His 
promises to Israel? Would He not again cry 
out, "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all 
that the prophets have spoken?" Having ex- 
perienced the suffering, ought not the Christ 
now to enjoy the glory, according to the prom- 
ise. The suffering is past — let us thank God 
for that. And shall we not look for the 



FACE TOWARDS THE CROSS. 135 

glory? The Scriptures have not left us in 
doubt about it. God is just now visiting the 
Gentiles to take of them a people for His name. 
After this is completed — after the Church of 
God is fully gathered out — "iVfter this/' His own 
word for it, "After this I will return, and will 
build again the tabernacle of David, which is 
fallen down ; and I will build again the ruins 
thereof, and I will set it up ; that the residue of 
men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gen- 
tiles, upon whom My name is called, saith the 
Lord, Who doeth all these things." (Acts 15: 
16, 17.) May we ever pray to be delivered from 
the awful sin of unbelief, which doth so easily 
beset us — the terrible blasphemy of making God 
a liar! May we ever be quick of scent in the 
things of the Lord (Isa. 11:3, margin), so that 
we shall believe all that the Prophets have spok- 
en! Having entered into the rich benefits of 
the sufferings of the Christ, let us be always 
rejoicing in the hope of the glory that shall fol- 
low. (See 1 Peter 1: 11.) 

In the eleventh and twelfth chapters of Mat- 
thew, Israel's rejection of the Messiah is fully 
manifested, followed in chapter 13 by His re- 
jection in turn of the nation and His forecast 
of the Kingdom in its mystery form during the 
personal absence of the King. All this will be- 
come clear as we go on. For the present we are 
concerned with the eleventh chapter. 

"And it came to pass, when Jesus had made 
an end of commanding His twelve disciples, He 



136 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

departed thence to teach and to preach in their 
cities." (V. i.) The Lord Jesus is always inti- 
mately associated with His servants in their 
work. Though they may not see Him, yet He 
is laboring with them. It is even so to-day. 
When Jesus was bodily upon the earth, He began 
to do and to teach. He has never ceased, but 
He is still the great Doer and the great Teacher. 
(Acts, i : i.) 

The Perplexity of the Baptist 

In verses 2 and 3 there is a message of in- 
quiry from John the Baptist: "Now when John 
heard in the prison the works of the Christ, he 
sent by his disciples, and said unto Him, art 
Thou He that cometh, or look we for another ?" 
It is no disparagement of this great Prophet, 
John the Baptist, to say that he was sorely trou- 
bled by what had taken place. He was the last 
of a long line of Old Testament Prophets, and 
they had all of them experienced difficulty in 
regard to the understanding of their own mes- 
sages. Peter writes (1 Peter 1:10-12) of our 
salvation, "concerning which salvation the 
Prophets sought out and searched diligently, who 
prophesied of the grace that should come unto 
you: searching what time or what manner of 
time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did 
point unto, when it testified beforehand the suf- 
ferings of Christ, and the glories that should 
follow them. To whom it was revealed, that 
not unto themselves, but unto you, did they min- 



THE PERPLEXITY OP THE BAPTIST. 137 

ister these things, which now have been an- 
nounced unto you through them that preached 
the Gospel unto you by the Holy Ghost sent 
forth from heaven; which things angels desire 
to look into." 

John the Baptist, for example, had been called 
to present the Messiah as "the Lamb of God that 
taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1 : 
29.) That meant suffering and humiliation and 
death. But he had also been sent before Him 
to proclaim Him as the terrible Judge and mighty 
King, Whose fan was in His hand, and Who 
should throughly cleanse His threshing-floor, 
gathering His wheat into His garner and burn- 
ing up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matt. 
3: 11-12.) What did it all mean? That Jesus 
was the Christ of God, the Messiah of Israel, 
John had no doubt. He believed that He was 
Jehovah — the Coming One — in the flesh. But 
why, then, should this Messiah be going about 
healing and preaching, and why should His fore- 
runner be languishing in a dungeon, while Is- 
rael's throne was usurped by a lecherous vassal 
of heathen Rome? 

The Lord Jesus thoroughly understood John's 
perplexity, but His answer was to point to the 
Scriptures. By His references to the 35th chap- 
ter of Isaiah, Jesus shows that His ministry for 
the time being was just a foregleam of the King- 
dom in the Day of its full manifestation. John 
would not stumble concerning these things if 
he were careful to examine all the Scriptures 



138 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

concerning the Christ. "Great peace have they 
that love thy Law, and they shall have no stum- 
bling block." (Psalm 119: 165.) 

The Lord's glowing testimony to John the 
Baptist is unequalled. This man was not a reed 
shaken with the wind. He was a Prophet and 
much more than a Prophet. John was the great- 
est of the Prophets and the greatest of men up 
to his time, because to him was given the exalted 
privilege of proclaiming the Kingdom with the 
King already present. This was a wonderful 
thing, but it was small and insignificant after all, 
when compared with the position of one actually 
in the Kingdom, when that Kingdom shall be 
really manifested. 

"And from the days of John the Baptist until 
now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, 
and men of violence take it by force. For all 
the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. 
And if ye are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, 
which is to come. He that hath ears to hear, 
let him hear." (Vs. 12-15.) This passage has 
greatly troubled the commentators. In Luke 16: 
16 our Lord said: "The Law and the Prophets 
were until John; from that time the Gospel of 
the Kingdom of God is preached, and every 
man entereth violently into it." The meaning is 
that John had preached the Gospel of the King- 
dom with such power that those who had re- 
ceived the truth had not counted any sacrifice 
too great to obtain that Kingdom. In spite of 
every obstacle and opposition and persecution 



THE PERPLEXITY OF THE BAPTIST. 139 

they had entered violently into the Kingdom. 
They had striven to enter in at the strait gate. 
They had been so eager and so much in earnest 
about it that nothing could keep them out. They 
had become, in their intense desire, men of vio- 
lence, and had taken the Kingdom by force. All 
Prophecy and the Law headed up in John's mes- 
sage. If only Israel would receive it, this was 
Elijah, which was to come. What a solemn mo- 
ment was this ! And what a solemn word : "He 
that hath ears to hear, let him hear." 

But Israel was deaf, both to John and to 
Jesus. Like trifling children, they would not be 
suited with anything that God might do for 
them, or with any messenger He might send 
unto them. John lived the life of an ascetic 
separate from the people, and they said he had 
a demon. Jesus lived among the people, close to 
them — like the Good Samaritan, He came where 
they were — and they called Him a glutton and 
a winebibber ! But, thanks be to God, there was 
a little remnant of believers. Wisdom had a 
few children and by them Wisdom was justified 
(vs. 16-19). In the Proverbs Wisdom is a fig- 
ure of the Lord Jesus. (See specially chapter 
8.) In Luke 7: 29, 30, our Lord's meaning here 
is made clear, for it is written that as Jesus 
preached, "all the people when they heard, and 
the Publicans, justified God, being baptized with 
the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and the 
Lawyers rejected for themselves the counsel of 
God, being not baptized of him." 



140 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

John's ministry was not a failure, then, but a 
glorious success. All who had received his mes- 
sage and were baptized of him, also received 
Jesus and justified God. All who failed to re- 
ceive John's message also rejected the Lord 
Jesus. 

But what a feeble remnant it was that showed 
any heart for the Word of God! The mass of 
the people would have none of it. The great 
crowds, the cities, Chorazin and Bethsaida, ac- 
cording to their light, were worse than Tyre and 
Sidon. Capernaum would suffer a severer judg- 
ment than Sodom (vs. 20-24.) And what, then, 
of London, Paris, Boston, New York, Philadel- 
phia, Chicago, San Francisco? The sins of our 
modern cities is appalling, when viewed in the 
blazing light of nineteen centuries of the Gospel 
of the Son of God. If Chorazin and Bethsaida 
and Capernaum deserved such scathing denun- 
ciation from the patient Christ so long ago, what 
must he think of an American city in this year 
of grace 1910? 

It is only by the mercy of God that we were 
not all cut off without hope long ago. With 
Isaiah and Israel we may well say, "Except the 
Lord of Hosts had left unto us a very small rem- 
nant, we should have been as Sodom, and we 
should have been like unto Gomorrah." (Isa. 
1:9.) Let us, with our Lord Jesus, be thankful 
for the little company of believing ones. It was 
"at that season" — when His rejection seemed 
most complete and when there was apparent de- 



"COME UNTO ME." 141 

feat all about Him: "At that season Jesus an- 
swered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord 
of Heaven and Earth, that thou didst hide these 
things from the wise and understanding and 
didst reveal them unto babes; yea, Father, for 
so it was well pleasing in Thy sight." (Vs. 25, 
26.) 

Defeat was impossible for the Son of God. 
"All things," said He, "have been delivered to 
Me of My Father; and no one knoweth the Son, 
save the Father ; neither doth any know the Fa- 
ther, save the Son, and he to whom the Son will- 
eth to reveal Him." (V. 27.) 

"Come Unto Me" 

Then follows that wonderful invitation, con- 
tained in verses 29-30: "Come unto Me, all 
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will 
give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and 
learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; 
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My 
yoke is easy, and My burden is light." These 
words, though spoken to the deaf ears of Israel, 
have sounded round the world, and are treas- 
ured up to-day by multitudes of the heavy-laden 
children of men who find in them sweet comfort 
and strong consolation. There is rest in Him for 
Israel, and Israel shall one day obtain it, though 
for the time being that people is blinded in part. 
Thanks be to God, there is a remnant according 
to the election of grace turning from Moses, 
unto Him Whom Moses preached. To such 



142 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

Jesus fulfills His word — "I will give you rest." 
And as they go on under His easy yoke and His 
light burden, and as they follow on to know Him, 
they do find rest unto their souls. 

But He is also given for a light to the Gen- 
tiles. Whosoever will may come. By Him all 
that believe, whether Jews or Gentiles, are jus- 
tified from all things. He died for all. He tasted 
death for every man. He is the Saviour of all 
men, specially of them that believe. He is the 
propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, 
but for the sins of the whole world. 

May God help you to come, then, for He is 
the Way, and the Way is made clear. No one 
cometh unto the Father but by Him. He is the 
Door, and him that cometh He will in no wise 
cast out. Whoever you are, whatever you are, 
wherever you are — 

"Come to Jesus, come to Jesus, 

Come to Jesus just now. 
Just now come to Jesus; 
Come to Jesus just now. 

"He will save you, He will save you, 

He will save you just now, 
Just now He will save you; 
He will save you just now." 



THE KING AS LORD OF THE SABBATH 



Chapter 12 



The Sabbath is never mentioned in Matthew 
until the twelfth chapter. The complete rejec- 
tion of the Messiah by Israel is marked in this 
chapter by His break with them concerning the 
Sabbath. This was the last thing remaining of 
their violated covenant with Jehovah. It had 
been given to them as a sign of the covenant, and 
now, as they had deserted the covenant, He was 
about to set aside the sign. His purpose in giv- 
ing them the Sabbath is shown in Exodus 31 : 
12-17, where "Jehovah spake unto Moses, say- 
ing, Speak thou unto the children of Israel say- 
ing, Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep : for it 
is a sign between Me and you throughout your 
generations ; that ye may know that I am Jeho- 
vah that doth sanctify you. * * * * Wherefore 
the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, 
to observe the Sabbath throughout their gen- 
erations for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign 
between Me and the children of Israel for 
ever: for in six days Jehovah made heaven and 
earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and 
was refreshed. ,, 

Israel's violation of the terms of the covenant 
was constant and grievous. In Ezekiel 20: 12- 

143 



144 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

26 the case against them is stated in detail: "I 
gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between 
Me and them, that they might know that I am 
Jehovah that sanctify them. But the house of 
Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness: 
they walked not in My statutes and they despised 
My judgments. * * * * I said to their children 
in the wilderness, I am Jehovah your God ; walk 
in My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do 
them; and hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall 
be a sign between Me and you, that ye may 
know that I am Jehovah your God." 

Thus it may be seen that the Sabbath is a 
purely Jewish institution. In the Law of Moses 
it was given only to Israel and it has never been 
given to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God. 
To speak of the Lord's Day as the Christian 
Sabbath is to pour new wine into old wineskins 
or sew new cloth on old garments. There is no 
Sabbath, Christian or otherwise, in this Dis- 
pensation. The Lord's Day is an immensely 
higher day than the Jewish Sabbath ever was. 
It is not, however, a day of law; but a day of 
grace. 

The Sabbath was a sign between God and 
Israel, that they might know that He was Jeho- 
vah their God. But they did not know Him. 
When He visited them they would not receive 
Him. He stood amongst them, holding out His 
hands toward them, ready to heal their back- 
slidings, but they would not have Him in their 
knowledge. And yet when He laid His hand 



LORD OF THE SABBATH. 145 

upon the Sabbath they cried out against Him 
and called Him a sinner and a blasphemer. 

How like the human heart is all this ! Nat- 
urally it is enmity toward God, and yet it clings 
tenaciously to empty religious forms, as if these 
could take the place of Him. Though they have 
no desire for the power of godliness, men cannot 
get along at all without the form of it. Thus 
did Israel seek to put the Sabbath of the Lord 
in the place of the Lord of the Sabbath. 

"At that season Jesus went on the Sabbath 
day through the grainfields ; and His disciples 
were hungry and began to pluck ears and to eat." 
(V. 1.) There was nothing in the Law of Sinai 
to prohibit this action of the disciples, but the 
Rabbis had added innumerable rules and regula- 
tions to the Law, and these traditions of men had 
been imposed upon the people by the Scribes 
and Pharisees. These enemies of Jesus were 
quick to 'seize upon any occasion to entrap Him. 
"Behold, thy disciples do that which it is not 
lawful to do upon the Sabbath." (V. 2.) 

The answer given to this objection by our 
Lord is very suggestive. He first points His 
questioners to what David did when fleeing from 
Saul. David was the anointed of God to be 
King of Israel, but he was rejected and his ene- 
mies sought his life. Arriving at the house of 
God at Nob, he asked Ahimelech the Priest for 
bread for his followers. The story is told in 
the twenty-first chapter of First Samuel. "And 
the Priest answered David and said, There is no 



146 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

common bread under mine hand, but there is hal- 
lowed bread." David replied, "The bread is in 
a manner common, yea, though it were sancti- 
fied this day in the vessel. ,, How could there 
be anything sacred to God, when God's chosen 
man was rejected and fleeing for his life? "So 
the Priest gave him hallowed bread." So now, 
what did the Sabbath amount to after the cove- 
nant was defiled? What was the value of the 
outward sign when the inward reality was gone ? 
"Or," Jesus went on, "have ye not read in the 
Law that on the Sabbath day the Priests in the 
Temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 
But I say that one greater than the Temple is 
here." (Vs. 5, 6.) His reference was to the 
provision of the Law written in Numbers 28 : 9, 
10, that the Priests should offer "on the Sabbath 
day two lambs of the first year without spot, and 
two tenth deals of flour for a meal offering, min- 
gled with oil, and the drink offering thereof : this 
is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, beside 
the continual burnt offering, and his drink of- 
fering." To fulfill this requirement the Priests 
must work on the Sabbath, and they were not ac- 
cused, therefore, of violating the Law. And 
here was One greater than the Temple, for it 
was He Who had given them the Temple, and 
the covenant, and everything beside. The Tem- 
ple itself, He knew, would soon be torn down, 
for it had become a hollow mockery, where men 
put sacrifices and forms and ceremonies in the 
place 0! love and justice and mercy. "But," 



THE END OF JUDAISM. 147 

Jesus went on, "if ye had known what this mean- 
eth, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, ye would 
not have condemned the guiltless." (V. 7.) 

His reference here is to Hosea 6, where we 
read: "O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? 
O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your 
goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early 
dew it goeth away. Therefore have I hewed 
them by the Prophets ; I have slain them by the 
words of My mouth: and thy judgments are as 
the light that goeth forth. For I desired mercy, 
and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God 
more than burnt offerings. But they like men 
have transgressed the covenant: there have they 
dealt treacherously against Me." (Vs. 4-7.) 

The End of Judaism 

And then, with one majestic word, the Lord 
Jesus swept away the last prop from beneath 
these blind leaders of the blind. "The Son of 
Man," said He, "is Lord of the Sabbath." (V. 
8.) It was a terrible blow and by it Judaism was 
smashed to pieces. The Sabbath was gone; the 
Priests were gone ; and in their place there stood 
One greater than the Temple, greater than the 
Priests, and Lord of the Sabbath! What had 
they left? If only they would receive Him, 
everything was left. In Him they would have 
found their Temple, their Priest and their Sab- 
bath rest. But they would not have Him — and 
their house was left to them desolate, 



148 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

His Long-Suffering 

How hard it was for Him to give them up ! 
One last effort should be made. "He departed 
thence and went into their Synagogue" — it was 
their Synagogue now ; He had no part in it. 
"And behold, a man having a withered hand. 
And they asked Him saying, Is it lawful to heal 
on the Sabbath day? that they might accuse 
Him." (Vs. 9. 10.) They are now out in the 
open, hunting for His life. They will not be 
content until they have killed the Heir and seized 
the inheritance. He knows their hearts, and yet 
with what marvelous patience does He answer 
them ! "What man shall there be of you, that 
shall have one sheep, and if this fall into a pit 
on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, 
and lift it out? How much then is a man of more 
value than a sheep! -Wherefore it is lawful to 
do good on the Sabbath day. Then saith He to 
the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And He 
stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, 
as the other." (Vs. 11-13.) This was the Lord's 
doing and a. great cause for rejoicing and thanks- 
giving, to say nothing more of it, "but the Phar- 
isees went out, and took counsel against Him, 
how they might destroy Him." (V. 14.) 

So the die was cast, and Israel's doom was 
sealed. Jesus needed not that anyone should tell 
Him what was in man, and He clearly saw that 
there was nothing but the intensest hatred for 
Him among His people. "And Jesus perceiving 



BRUISED REEDS AXD SMOKING FLAX. 149 

it withdrew from thence." (V. 15.) This is a 
solemn word. He "withdrew from thence." 
From that moment His testimony is confined to 
the future, in view of His approaching death on 
the Cross, to be followed by His prolonged ab- 
sence from the earth and His return in power 
and great glory at the End of the Age. Mean- 
while Israel is set aside, blinded in part, till the 
fullness of the Gentiles be come in. (Romans 
11.) A remnant out of Israel, according to the 
election of grace, will, however, turn to Him 
while He is visiting the Gentiles to take out of 
them a people for His name. Thus we read here 
that as He withdrew from thence many followed 
Him and He healed them all, and charged them 
that they should not make Him known; that it 
might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah 
the Prophet, saying, "Behold, My Servant Whom 
I have chosen ; My Beloved in Whom My soul 
is well pleased ; I will put My Spirit upon Him, 
and He shall declare judgment to the Gentiles. 
He shall not strive, nor cry aloud ; neither shall 
anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised 
reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall 
He not quench, till He send forth judgment unto 
victory. And in His name shall the Gentiles 
hope." (Vs. 15-21.) 

Bruised Reeds and Smoking Flax 

This quotation from Isaiah 42 : 1-4, explains 
why Jesus did not smite His enemies before 
Him, instead of meekly turning from them. He 



150 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

had leaned on Israel and had found them a 
bruised reed. Their worship was so corrupt as 
to be a grievous offense unto Him, as smoking 
flax. But he had not yet come to judgment, and 
therefore He would not break the bruised reed 
nor quench the smoking flax, until at His Second 
Advent He should send forth judgment unto vic- 
tory. Meanwhile in His name should the Gen- 
tiles hope. 

The Unpardonable Sin 

Then was brought unto Him one possessed 
with a demon, blind and dumb; and He healed 
him, insomuch that the dumb man spake and saw. 
And all the multitudes were amazed and said, Is 
this the Son of David? (Vs. 22, 23.) It was 
plain that this work was supernatural and super- 
human. The Pharisees, not willing to attribute 
it to the Spirit of God, declared that Jesus had 
an evil spirit — that He cast out demons by Beel- 
zebub the Prince of demons; that is, by Satan 
himself. Replying to this, the Lord Jesus shows 
the absurdity of supposing Satan arrayed against 
Satan. It was not likely that the Prince of the 
Power of the Air should be fighting against his 
own forces. How, then, should his Kingdom 
stand ? And what had they to say about the ex- 
orcists among themselves — were they, too, cast- 
ing out demons by Beelzebub? Jesus had not 
been so foolish as to attempt to rob the strong 
man — that is, Satan — without first binding him. 



THE UNPARDONABLE SIN. 151 

The very first act of His ministry was to over- 
come this "strong man" in the wilderness, and 
now He was spoiling His house. The lines were 
sharply drawn and the fight w r as on. "He that is 
not with Me is against Me; and he that gather- 
eth not scattereth." (V. 30.) To ascribe to the 
devil the work of the Holy Spirit of God was a 
most terrible act of blasphemy, which should 
never be forgiven. (Vs. 31, 32.) 

This, then, is "the unpardonable sin" — to 
charge the Lord Jesus Christ with acting by the 
power of Satan — to accuse the Holy Spirit of 
God with being the unclean spirit of Satan ! 
Mark very plainly states that Jesus uttered this 
warning, "because they said, He hath an un- 
clean spirit. ,, (Mark 3:30.) Their cup of in- 
iquity was full to overflowing and He lifted up 
His voice against them. "Either make the tree 
good, and its fruit good," said He, "or make the 
tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt; for the tree 
is known by its fruit. Ye offspring of vipers, 
how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for 
out of the abundance of the heart the mouth 
speaketh. The good man out of his good treas- 
ure bringeth forth good things ; and the evil man 
out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. 
And I say unto you, that every idle word that 
men shall speak they shall give account thereof 
in the Day of Judgment. For by thy words thou 
shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt 
be condemned." (Vs. 33-37.) 



152 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 
The Sign of Jonah 

This was terrible denunciation for these enemies 
of God and His Christ, but it fell on deaf ears. 
Their only response was, "Teacher, we would see 
a sign from Thee." (V. 39.) They were surely 
an evil and adulterous generation. They should 
have but one sign, the sign of the Prophet Jonah. 
As Jonah was three days and three nights in the 
belly of the fish, so should the Son of Man be 
three days and three nights in the heart of the 
earth. (V. 40.) 

Among the graveclothes brought out from the 
tomb of Roman Catholicism is the tradition of 
"Good Friday" as the day of Jesus' death. There 
is nothing in the New Testament to sustain 
such a tradition, and it is surely plain enough 
that there were not three days and three nights 
between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning. 
Believing that Jesus knew all about it, we are 
forced to conclude that the crucifixion must have 
taken place earlier than Friday. If it be ob- 
jected that the death of our Lord was on the 
day before the Sabbath, it is sufficient to reply 
that the Passover Feast always began with a 
Sabbath, which was not the weekly Sabbath, 
but a special day of rest and convocation 
set aside by the Law. And of the Pass- 
over Sabbath in this instance it is written, "and 
that Sabbath was a high day." (John 20:31; 
Lev. 23:7.) 

What an awful judgment awaits the hard- 



"MY BROTHER,. SISTER,. .MOTHER." 153 

hearted Jewish leaders who drove the Son of 
God to the Cross ! Even the Ninevites and the 
Queen of Sheba shall witness against them; for 
here was a greater than Jonah and a greater than 
Solomon. (Vs. 41, 42.) Israel had been deliv- 
ered from the unclean spirit of idolatry, but 
nothing had taken its place, and the unclean 
spirit would some day return with reinforce- 
ments, and the last state should be worse than 
the first. This points to the time of The Great 
Tribulation, when Israel shall be found worship- 
ing the Beast and his image, until the Deliverer 
shall come and turn away ungodliness from 
Jacob. (Vs. 43-45-) 

"My Brother, and Sister, and Mother" 

Mary and her sons, the mother and the broth- 
ers of Jesus, suddenly appear on the scene, seek- 
ing to speak to Him. Mark explains (3:21) 
that Jesus' friends at this time went out to lay 
hold on Him, for, they said, He is beside Him- 
self. "And one said unto Him, Behold, Thy 
mother and Thy brethren stand without, seeking 
to speak to Thee. But He answered and said 
unto him that told Him, Who is My mother? 
and who are My brethren? And He stretched 
forth His hands towards His disciples, and said, 
Behold, My mother and My brethren ! For who- 
soever shall do the will of My Father Which is 
in heaven he is My brother, and sister, and 
mother." (Vs. 46-50.) Thus are natural rela- 
tionships set aside to make way for the higher 



154 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

relationships of the new family, the holy nation, 
the royal priesthood, the peculiar people, the chil- 
dren of God. 

To do the will of God— this is tbe^unalterable 
condition of entrance into the family of Jesus. 
Whosoever shall do the will of His Father Which 
is in heaven, — these are His brother and sister 
and mother. And this is the greatest thing in 
all the world — to know the will of God and to 
do it. This is the ultimate aim of our existence, 
the supreme good, the summum bonum — to 
know God and to please Him. And whosoever 
lives this life, having this ambition, fulfilling this 
condition, he is Jesus' brother. And would you 
know the will of God concerning you? This is 
the work of God, that ye believe on Him Whom 
He hath sent. "This is My beloved Son, in 
Whom I am well pleased. Hear Him." 



MYSTERIES OF THE KINGDOM 



Chapter 13 



The thirteenth chapter of Matthew contains 
seven parables in which the rejected Messiah 
sets forth the condition of the Kingdom of Heav- 
en after its rejection by Israel and until the re- 
turn of the King. The number seven always 
suggests completeness, and the parables give a 
complete view of the present Dispensation, ex- 
tending from our Lord's personal ministry, fol- 
lowing Israel's rejection, to His personal return 
at the End of the Age. This sevenfold preview 
of the Dispensation differs from that contained 
in the seven epistles of The Revelation, in that 
in Matthew we have in view the whole King- 
dom, while in The Revelation the picture is 
confined to the Churches. In both pictures there 
is revealed an awful condition of apostacy and 
false profession, but in Matthew the horizon is 
larger, for here we are not only looking at the 
Churches, but our minds are occupied with the 
whole realm of profession. There is much pro- 
fession entirely outside of the Churches, for even 
where men have no connection with the Churches 
there is much talk of Christian civilization, 
Christian institutions, Christian countries, 
Christian government, and so on. What is com- 
monly called "Christendom" is what we are gaz- 

155 



156 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

ing upon in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew. 
It includes everything called "Christian." 

The first verse of the chapter is full of sig- 
nificance: "On that day went Jesus out of the 
house, and sat by the sea side." It is a pro- 
phetic suggestion of His final break with Israel. 
No word of God is void of power or empty of 
meaning. It was "on that day" — that is, on that 
memorable Sabbath day, when the Lord Jesus 
took His true place among His people as the One 
greater than David, greater than Solomon, great- 
er than Jonah, the Lord of the Sabbath. It was 
His rightful place, for either He was all this or 
He was nothing. But they rejected Him and 
sought to kill Him. Therefore "on that day 
went Jesus out of the house." And where did 
He go? So far as His own people and country 
were concerned, He had no place to go. It is 
very notable that He "sat by the sea side," for 
the sea in the Scriptures is ever a type of the 
restless Gentile nations. (Dan. 7:2, 3, 17; Rev. 
17: 1, 15.) It is His long delayed reluctant re- 
sponse to His people's action in turning from 
Him. He now turns from them, "going out of 
the house" and leaving it desolate; and He, in 
a figure, visits the Gentiles to take out of them 
a people for His own name. He "sat by the 
sea side." 

"And there were gathered unto Him great 
multitudes, so that He entered into a boat, and 
sat; and all the multitudes stood on the beach." 
(V. 2.) The boat is a type of the true Church of 



THE SOWER. 157 

God, in the world and not of it, as the boat was 
in the sea and not of it. The Lord Jesus is in 
the midst of her, and out of her He is now en- 
gaged in teaching the multitudes, who, though 
they are not actually in the Church, are yet light- 
ed up by her presence, for she is the light of the 
world. 

"And He spake to them in parables/' (V. 3.) 
The reason of this form of teaching He explains 
in verses 11-17 in response to a request from His 
disciples. It was God's judicial hand upon Is- 
rael, because of their deliberate rejection of His 
Son. Refusing the light already given them, 
further light was denied them. This is a law 
of revelation, that God only reveals truth so far 
as we go on obeying it. When we rebel against 
truth already known to us, we not only receive 
no new revelation, but we lose that we already 
have. "For whosoever hath, to him shall be 
given, and he shall have abundance ; but whoso- 
ever hath not, from him shall be taken away even 
that which he hath." (V, 1-2.) 

It may be noticed that these seven parables are 
divided in the usual way. The first four, this 
being the earth or world number, show man's 
failures, while the last three, this being the 
Trinity number, show God's thoughts and pur- 
poses, perfectly worked out, for of course these 
cannot fail. 

The Sower 

In the first parable the Lord Jesus is seen as 



158 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

the divine Sower. Failing to receive fruit from 
His vineyard, Israel, He goes out to sow the 
Word of the Kingdom broadcast. Only one- 
fourth of the seeds come to fruitage. The Sower 
Himself gives us the interpretation of the par- 
able in verses 18-23. 

The Wheat and Tares 

The parable of the wheat and tares (vs. 24- 
30) shows the mixed condition of reality and 
hypocrisy in Christendom, so-called, extending 
to the End of the Age. Our Lord's interpreta- 
tion of this parable is given in verses 37 to 43. 
By it we learn that the Dispensation is to end 
without a converted world. The tares do not 
grow into wheat at the End-time, but they are 
gathered up and set aside for judgment. We 
shall be terribly disheartened and grievously dis- 
appointed if we are looking for the conversion 
of the world before the return of the Son of 
Man. 

It ought to be noted here that the Church is 
not in view in all this, nor is the Church Dis- 
pensation the "Age" so often referred to. It 
is the Jewish Age, which has been interrupted by 
the parenthetical Church Dispensation. The Jew- 
ish Age is not yet finished, nor will it be until 
the Church is removed from the earth. Then 
the Jewish Dispensation of Daniel's time will be 
completed with the final seven years of Daniel's 
seventy "weeks. " The end of the seven-years 
period is the End of the Age spoken of in these 



THE MUSTARD SEED. 159 

parables. The End of the world is not men- 
tioned at all, our English translations to the con- 
trary notwithstanding. 

The Mustard Seed 

In the parable of the mustard seed (vs. 31, 
32) we come to familiar ground. The little seed 
grows into a large spreading tree. It is the same 
type as in the fourth chapter of Daniel. Neb- 
uchadnezzar had received the Kingdom from the 
hands of God, but in man's hands it was cor- 
rupted and furnished shelter to the beasts of the 
field and fowls of the air. The same thing is 
seen in the parable of the mustard seed. It is 
Babylon over again, which is only another name 
for what men are pleased to call Christendom. 
It has a profession, a form of godliness, but it 
denies the power thereof. Heavenly in its ori- 
gin, and opposed at first to everything of this 
world, it finally grows and spreads abroad, being 
conformed to the world. It is now a semi-reli- 
gious system, very great and very popu- 
lar. The birds of the first parable failed 
to fully destroy all the seed, but they now 
seek and find rest in the branches of the tree. 
In other words, the devil and his messengers, 
having failed to uproot true Christianity in the 
beginning, are now opposing it in a much more 
subtle way. They are to be found in the very 
midst of "the system" and identifying themselves 
with it. It is quite the thing nowadays to "have 
religion," And Satan, ever alert, has taken ad- 



160 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW, 

vantage of this condition to put his own repre- 
sentatives in the forefront as "religious leaders. ,, 
The Church has always been cursed by these 
false leaders, and the Spirit of God speaking of 
them in 2 Cor. 11 : 13-15 says that "such men are 
false Apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning 
themselves into Apostles of Christ. And no 
marvel; for even Satan fashioneth himself into 
an angel of light. It is no great thing there- 
fore if his ministers also fashion themselves as 
ministers of righteousness; whose end shall 
be according to their works." 

The Leaven 

Another parable spake He unto them: "The 
Kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven, which 
a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, 
it was all leavened." (V. 33.) 

This fourth parable has been a battle ground 
for the commentaors. There is no need of con- 
fusion, however, and no possibility of confusion, 
if we are willing to bow to the authority of 
the Scriptures and allow them to interpret the 
parable for us. The popular conception that the 
leaven is the Gospel of Christ, and that this 
Gospel is to pervade and permeate the world 
until the whole world is saved, is without Scrip- 
tural basis. Not only does such an interpreta- 
tion place our Lord in the position of contra- 
dicting all His other parables by the use of this 
one, but it also destroys the whole Bible as a 
source of authority in the matter of its own un- 



THE LEAVEN. 161 

derstanding and interpretation. Now comparing 
spiritual things with spiritual, we shall find that 
leaven is never once used in the Word of God 
except as a type of corruption. In connection 
with the first Passover, Israel was commanded 
to put away leaven out of their houses. (Ex. 
12: 15.) In Lev. 2: 11, the Law provided that 
no meal offering should be made with leaven. 
In Lev. 6: 17, in the Law of the meal offering, 
it is written, "It shall not be baken with leaven. 
* * * * It is most holy." The two wave-loaves 
of the Pentecostal offering (Lev. 23:17) were 
baked with leaven, because they typified the 
Church of God, and signified that we are accept- 
ed in the Beloved in spite of our indwelling evil 
nature, for He was made sin for us. 

In His personal ministry our Lord often used 
leaven as a type of evil. At one time His dis- 
ciples forgot to take a supply of bread with 
them. "And Jesus said unto them, Take heed 
and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and 
Sadducees. And they reasoned among them- 
selves, saying, We took no bread." But Jesus 
explained His words, and "then understood they 
how that He bade them not beware of the leaven 
of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees 
and Sadducees." (Matt. 16:5-12.) In Luke 
12 : 1 the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, "Be- 
ware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is 
hypocrisv;" and in Mark 8: 15 He also warned 
them against the leaven of Herod, evidently 
meaning lust for worldly power. 



162 SIMPLE STUDIES. IN MATTHEW. 

Leaven, then, is a figure of corruption. Now 
who is the woman, hiding the leaven in the 
meal? It is significant that this is the only men- 
tion of a woman in the seven parables. She is 
easily recognizable as the false professing 
Church, corrupting by false doctrine and sinful 
conduct, the food of the children, which is the 
Word of God. Hiding the leaven in the meal, 
she leaves it there, and the corrupting process 
continues until the true food is all gone, being ut- 
terly lost in the repulsive and poisonous mass — 
the whole lump leavened. 

It was against this awful danger that Paul 
later warned the Galatian churches, which were 
receiving the Judaizing teachers. With the 
Lord's parable of the leaven in mind he wrote: 
"Ye were running well; who did hinder you, 
that ye should not obey the truth? This per- 
suasion came not of Him that calleth you. A 
little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. I 
have confidence to you-ward in the Lord, that 
ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that 
troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whoso- 
ever he be." (Gal. 5:7-10.) 

And again when the Corinthian Church was 
indulging in sinful practices, the Apostle wrote: 
"It is actually reported that there is fornication 
among you, and such fornication as is not even 
among the Gentiles, that one of you hath his fa- 
ther's wife. And ye are puffed up, and did not 
rather mourn, that he that had done this deed 
might be taken away from among you. * * * * 



THE HID TREASURE. 163 

Your glorying is not your good. Know ye not 
that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 
Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new 
lump, even as ye are unleavened. For our Pass- 
over also hath been sacrificed, even Christ: 
wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old 
leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the 
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth/' (1 
Cor. 5:1-8.) 

The Hid Treasure 

It is at this point that the parables are divided 
into two parts, as already indicated. The four 
parables so far reviewed show how impossible 
it is for men to produce anything but failure and 
disaster, apart from Christ. We shall never 
have the Kingdom manifested here until the 
King comes back. 

And He is coming back. Just as truly as He 
went awav, He will return. And this is carefully 
indicated in the record before us. In the first 
verse we saw Him departing from Israel and 
turning to the Gentiles. He "went out of the 
house and sat by the sea side, and there were 
gathered unto Him great multitudes." But He 
hath not forgotten Israel. In verse 36 is it writ- 
ten, "Then He left the multitudes, and went 
into the house." Blessed be His Holv name! 
He is ever true and faithful, and Israel is still 
beloved for the fathers' sakes. In the verv next 
parable fv. aa) He has His kinsmen in mind: 

"The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a treas- 



164 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

ure hidden in the field ; which a man found, and 
hid; and in his joy he goeth and selleth all that 
he hath, and buyeth that field. ,, 

The treasure is Israel, now hidden in the field, 
which is still the world. The Man who in His 
joy goes and sells His all and buys the field is 
our Lord Jesus Himself. It was on the Cross 
of Calvary that He paid the price— He sold all 
that He had — and by right of purchase as well 
as by right of creation the world is His. "The 
earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof: the 
world, and they that dwell therein. ,, (Psalm 
24: 1.) And Israel is His treasure, now hidden 
but one day to be brought forth in glory. "Is- 
rael shall blossom and bud and fill the face of the 
world with fruit." (Isa. 27:6.) In that Day 
they shall remember and obey His Word, as 
He said, "If ye will obey My voice indeed, and 
keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar 
treasure unto Me above all people: for all the 
earth is Mine. And ye shall be unto Me a King- 
dom of Priests, and an holy nation." (Ex. 19: 
5, 6; Ps. 135:4.) 

The Pearl of Great Price 

But in dying for Israel, He was also paying 
the redemption price for more than Israel: 

"Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a 
man that is a merchant seeking goodly pearls: 
and having found one pearl of great price, he 
went out and sold all that he had, and bought 
it." 



THE DRAG NET. 165 

The Man here also is none other than our 
Lord Jesus. He came seeking goodly pearls. 
He came to seek and save that which was lost. 
Pearls are found at the bottom of the sea, and 
the sea is again the Gentile world. He hath vis- 
ited the Gentiles to take out of them a people 
for His name. The pearl of great price is the 
true Church of God, and its value may speak to 
us of the riches of the glory of His inheritance 
in the saints. (Eph. 1 : 18.) The pearl is one, 
for it typifies the one body. The great price was 
His own precious blood — "Ye are bought with a 
price. " In order to pay the price He yielded all 
that He had. He hath redeemed us, and now 
we are His. (See 1 Pet. 1: 18, 19.) 

The Drag Net 

The parable of the drag-net (vs. 47-50) speaks 
of the great ingathering of Gentiles after the 
Church is removed from the earth and just pre- 
ceding our Lord's return to the earth as Son of 
Man to set up the Kingdom. (See Rev. 7: 9-14, 
R. V.) The bad fish which are cast away are 
those who yield to the Beast in that awful Day. 
(Rev. 14:9-11.) 

"Understandest Thou What Thou Readest? ,, 

And now, may we not ask one another the 
question of Jesus (v. 51): "Have ye under- 
stood all these things?" We may understand 
them if we have a heart for them and a will to 
submit ourselves to them. It is possible for each 



166 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

one of us to be like the "man that is a house- 
holder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure 
things new and old." (V. 52.) There is much 
need of disciples who shall have a treasure out 
of which they may bring rich stores of truth for 
the enlightenment and edification of the family of 
God. 

Blind Nazareth 

The chapter closes with a brief account of our 
Lord's visit to Nazareth. His neighbors were 
blinded and thought of Him only as the carpen- 
ter's son, "And He did not many mighty works 
there because of their unbelief. " (V. 58.) What 
a terrible day was that for Nazareth ! God was 
in their midst and they knew Him not, because 
their hearts were steeled against the truth by 
their unbelief. He never passed that way again. 
May God forbid that any one of us may so sin 
against Him and against our own souls as to re- 
ject His pleadings as He is now passing amongst 
us! For aught we know, this may be our very 
last opportunity to hear the gracious words that 
proceed out of His mouth. Like the blind man 
of Jericho, let us rise now and call upon Him 
while He is near. 

"Jesus Christ is passing by, 
Sinner, lift to Him thine eye; 
As the precious moments flee, 
Cry, 'Be merciful to me !' 



BLIND NAZARETH. 167 

"Lo — He stands and calls to thee : 
'What wilt thou then have of Me?' 
Rise, and tell Him all thy need; 
Rise, He calleth thee indeed. 

" 'Lord, I would Thy mercy see ; 
Lord, reveal Thy love to me. 
Let it penetrate my soul, 
All my heart and life control.' 

"Oh, how sweet! The touch of power 
Comes, — it is salvation's hour; 
Jesus gives from guilt release, 
'Faith hath saved thee, go in peace.' " 



SUFFERING IN THE KINGDOM 



Chapter 14 



The fourteenth chapter opens with an account 
of the death of John the Baptist, related here out 
of its chronological order, but significantly placed 
here, in view of the Messiah's rejection by His 
people. 

Let us learn from this tragic recital that God's 
thoughts are not as our thoughts. From man's 
standpoint John's life was a pitiable failure and 
its end a dreadful calamity. From God's point 
of view the Baptist's life was a glowing success 
and its end a glorious consummation. Seen from 
earth, there was merely a drunken orgy, with a 
licentious man and a dissolute woman as central 
figures, resulting in the cruel murder of a Proph- 
et of God. Looked at from the battlements of 
heaven, there was God in the midst, making the 
wrath of man to praise Him and delivering His 
faithful witness from the horrors of a filthy 
Roman dungeon to the glories of the throne- 
room of the Eternal. To our distorted vision 
there appears the humiliating degradation of a 
defeated soldier. When we get the true focus 
upon it, it is an honorable promotion of a vic- 
torious warrior. 

The appointed path for the servant of God, 
in this world which hates God, is the path of 

168 



SUFFERING IN THE KINGDOM. 169 

suffering. Men cannot endure anything that re- 
minds them of God. A holy life in the midst 
of ungodliness is a constant rebuke, even though 
there may not be a word spoken against the 
abounding evil. God is reincarnating Himself in 
His children, and wherever the image is discern- 
ible, wherever the likeness is recognizable, 
wherever men find God manifest in the flesh, 
they will nail Him to the Cross if they can. It 
is well to recognize this fact and be prepared for 
it, for it is as true to-day as ever that "if any 
man will live godly in Christ Jesus, he shall 
suffer persecution/' This is God's plan for 
us, by which we may give a good testimony for 
Him in the midst of an evil generation, suffering 
wrongfully. As it is written: 

"This is acceptable, if for conscience toward 
God a man endureth griefs, suffering wrong- 
fully. For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, 
and are buffeted for it, ye shall take it patiently ? 
but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye 
shall take it patiently, this is acceptable with 
God. For hereunto were ye called: because 
Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an ex- 
ample, that ye should follow His steps : Who did 
no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: 
Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again : 
when He suffered, threatened not: but commit- 
ted Himself to Him that judgeth righteously: 
Who His own self bare our sins in His body 
upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, 
might live unto righteousness ; by Whose stripes 



170 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

ye were healed. For ye were going astray like 
sheep; but are now returned unto the Shepherd 
and Bishop of your souls." (i Pet. 2: 19-25.) 

"Servant of Christ, stand fast amidst the scorn 
Of men who little know or love the Lord; 

Turn not aside from toil; cease not to warn, 
Comfort and teach. Trust Him for thy reward; 

A few more moments* suffering, and then 

Cometh sweet rest from all thy heart's deep pain. 

"Have friends forsaken thee, and cast thy name 
Out as a worthless thing? Take courage then; 

Go tell thy Master; for they did the same 
To Him, Who once in patience toiled for them; 

Yet He was perfect in all service here; 
Thou oft hast failed; this maketh Him more dear. 

"Self-vindication shun. If in the right, 

What gainest thou by taking from God's hand 

Thy cause? If wrong, what dost thou but invite 
Satan himself thy friend in need to stand? 

Leave all with God. If right, He'll prove thee so; 
If not, He'll pardon; therefore to Him go. 

"The time is short; seek little here below; 

Earth's goods would cumber thee and drag thee 
down; 
Let daily food suffice; care not to know 

Aught of to-morrow; it may never come. 
Thou canst not perish, for thy Lord is nigh, 
And His own care will all thy need supply." 

There is a lesson for all of us in the action of 
John's disciples. In the great agony of their 
grief, they came and took up the corpse and 
buried it, and went and told Jesus. What a 



THE ALL-SUFFICIENT ONE. 171 

blessing it is that there is One to Whom the 
mourners of earth may go ! And whither shall 
we go, if not to Him? He has the words of 
eternal life. 

The Lord Jesus was doubtless filled with in- 
dignation upon hearing the report of Herod's 
cruel murder of the greatest of the Prophets. 
But though, by a word or even a thought, He 
could have stricken down in an instant the wick- 
ed King and his guilty companion, yet He did it 
not, for He came not to condemn but to save. 
His coming to judgment is not yet. 

The All-Sufficient One 

The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand 
is the only miracle of Jesus recorded by all of 
the four Gospel writers. The fact that all of 
them give it a place is surely an indication of 
its importance and also of its universality of 
application. There are many lessons growing 
out of the wonderful story — lessons practical, 
spiritual, typical and dispensational. Jesus ap- 
pears here as the all-sufficient Saviour. No 
need is too great for His resources, nothing is 
impossible with God, and He is God. He hath 
created the heavens and the earth by His mighty 
power and stretched-out arm, and nothing is too 
hard for Him. He is able to supply all our need. 
He opens His hand and satisfies the desire of 
every living thing. They all look to Him and He 
giveth them their food in due season. 

Jesus is not only sufficient for us and our 



172 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

needs, but He is able to supply the needs of 
others through us who are His disciples. With- 
out Him we can do nothing. "Not that we are 
sufficient of ourselves to account any thing as 
from ourselves ; but our sufficiency is from God" 
(2 Cor. 3 : 5.) "And God is able to make all grace 
abound unto you; that ye, having always all 
sufficiency in everything, may abound unto every 
good work: as it is written, He hath scattered 
abroad, He hath given to the poor; His right- 
eousness abideth for ever. And He that sup- 
plieth seed to the sower and bread for food, 
shall supply and multiply your seed for sowing, 
and increase the fruits of your righteousness : ye 
being enriched in everything unto all liberality, 
which worketh through us thanksgiving to God." 
(2 Cor. 9:8-11.) 

God never sets us to impossible tasks, though 
He is constantly asking us to do things utterly 
beyond our own resources. We look upon the 
great need and are apt to say, "Send the multi- 
tudes away that they may buy themselves food." 
His reply is, "They have no need to go away ; give 
ye them to eat." And if we look upon our piti- 
able little store and say to Him, "We have here 
but five loaves and two fishes ;" He does not re- 
scind his orders but says, "Bring them hither 
to Me." And when we do that — when there is 
the real surrender of our little all, how wonder- 
ful it is to see the poor little handful grow, and 
grow, and grow, until it feeds an army, and there 



THE ALL-SUFFICIENT ONE. 173 

is more left than we began with! Oh, may we 
not hear His word to-day? "Bring them hither 
to Me." 

It is only when men are hungry, and without 
resources to supply their own cravings, that they 
are ready for the food from Jesus' hands. "He 
commanded the multitudes to sit down." Their 
sitting down was a confession that they had 
ceased their own efforts and were waiting upon 
Him. Happy those who thus have ceased from 
their own works and are waiting only upon God. 

The bread was very plainly a figure of the 
Word of God. It is written, Man liveth not by 
bread alone but by every word that proceedeth 
out of the mouth of God. The Word of God is 
precious because it reveals God unto us. And 
the Lord Jesus Himself is the Word of God, 
made flesh. He is the Bread of God and the 
Bread of Life in its highest form. And we must 
feed upon Him in order that we may be sus- 
tained and nourished in God. (Compare John 

6.) 

The twelve baskets full, taken up after the 
crowd was fully satisfied, may speak to us dis- 
pensationally. Jesus is now dealing with the 
multitudes — He is visiting the Gentiles to take 
out of them a people for His name. After this 
He will return. (Acts 15.) When He returns 
it will be to the Jew first, and there will be ample 
food for them — for every tribe a basket full. 
(Compare vs. 11-13 with Rom. 11:25-27.) 



174 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

Awaiting the Father's Time 

John tells us that thereupon the people at- 
tempted to take Jesus by force and make Him 
King. Now, He came for this express purpose, 
to be a King. But the people's hearts were all 
wrong, and the Father's time had not yet come. 
Matthew omits this detail as apart from His 
purpose here, the rejection of the Kingdom hav- 
ing already been fully set forth. 

Walking on the Water 

The marvel of the story which follows is not 
that Jesus walked on the water, but that Peter 
did. It seems perfectly natural for Jesus to rise 
superior to nature's law, for He is nature's God. 
But Peter was merely a man — "a man of like 
passions with us." It is unnatural — it is contrary 
to nature — for a man, a mere man, to walk on 
the surface of the sea. But he was able to do 
so, because Jesus had commanded it. He had 
said, Come, and with that word there was given 
the power to come. Peter began to sink only 
when he took his eyes off Christ — he was not 
"looking unto Jesus." But even then, he was 
not allowed to go down, for Jesus had given 
His word and He kept him from sinking. De- 
pend upon it — His commands are always en- 
abling. Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it; 
for no matter how impossible it may seem, you 
can do all things through Christ Who strength- 
ened you. 



WALKING ON THE WATER. 175 

The whole scene of that night is a type. The 
sea is a figure of the nations of this world. 
(Dan. 7:2, 3, 17; Rev. 17:1, 15; Isa. 57: 20.) 
The little band of disciples in the boat is the 
Church of God, in the w r orld but not of it. They 
are safe so long as they are able to keep the sea 
out of the boat; so the Church is safe when 
separated from the world. These are the over- 
comers. Many are the efforts to destroy the 
little vessel, but the gates of hell shall not pre- 
vail against her. The winds and waves are con- 
trary. The Church is appointed to a path of 
persecution and world-hatred. Jesus is up in the 
mountain praying. He is able to save them to 
the uttermost that have come unto God by Him, 
seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for 
them. (Heb. 7 : 25.) He will come at the dawn- 
ing of the morning — at about the fourth watch 
of the night. "Weeping may endure for a night, 
but joy cometh in the morning." It is always 
darkest just before dawn, and He is the Bright 
and Morning Star. In the meantime those who 
even now see Him by faith are enabled to walk 
with Him in the victorious life, triumphing over 
the powers of sin and darkness. They are look- 
ing unto Him and looking for Him; and sud- 
denly He shall come and reveal Himself to them 
as "this same Jesus." 

And what will follow? First, there will be 
the joyful meeting of Jesus w r ith His own. How 
glad were these weary and careworn disciples 
when they saw the Lord! John says, "They 



176 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

willingly received Him into the ship." (John 
6:21.) So shall we gladly greet Him in that 
day when He Himself shall come to us and we 
shall meet Him all alone, far from the view of 
the world — our Lord, our Saviour, our Redeem- 
er — in the air! 

But we shall not remain away. He is coming 
back to the earth, in glory; and when He shall 
appear we shall also appear with Him, in glory. 
First, He will manifest Himself to Israel; and 
then through Israel there shall flow out untold 
blessing to the whole wide world. It is all in 
the picture : "And when they had crossed over, 
they came to the land" — the land, mark you ; 
and remember, every word is significant; it is 
the land of Israel — "unto Gennesaret" — a city 
of Israel. And notice what follows : "And when 
the men of that place knew Him, they sent into 
all that region round about, and brought unto 
Him all that were sick; and they besought Him 
that they might only touch the border of His 
garment; and as many as touched were made 
whole." (Vs. 34-36.) 

When they "knew Him!" Ah, that is what 
this poor sick world is waiting for — just for Is- 
rael to know Him. When they see Him, when 
they look upon Him Whom they pierced, when 
they know Him, then shall they bring unto Him 
all that are sick. And, blessed be His holy name, 
He will bring it to pass ! He has promised, and 
He is faithful to perform. "Ye shall know that 
I am Jehovah," — this is His word to Israel — "Ye 



WALKING ON THE WATER. 177 

shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have 
opened your graves, and caused you to come up 
out of your graves, O My people. And I will 
put My spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I will 
place you in your own Land ; and ye shall know 
that I Jehovah have spoken it, and performed it, 
saith Jehovah. * * * Behold, I will take the 
children of Israel from among the nations, 
whither they are gone, and will gather them on 
every side, and bring them into their own land; 
and I will make them one nation in the land, 
upon the mountains of Israel; and one King 
shall be King to them all; and they shall be no 
more two nations, neither shall they be divided 
into two Kingdoms any more at all. * * * More- 
over I will make a covenant of peace with them ; 
it shall be an everlasting covenant with them ; 
and I will place them, and multiply them, and 
will set My sanctuary in the midst of them for 
evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with 
them ; and I will be their God, and they shall be 
My people. And the nations shall know that 
I am Jehovah that sanctifieth Israel, when My 
sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for ever- 
more. ,, (Ezekiel 37.) 

"Eternal Father, hear! 

Haste to fulfill Thy Word! 
Let Israel's Hope appear! 

Reveal to Earth her Lord! 
We wait for Jesus from the skies; — 
When shall His glories greet our eyes? 



178 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

"How long shall Death yet reign, 

And Hell our race oppress? 
When shall Earth bloom again 

In Eden's blessedness? 
We wait for Jesus from the skies; — 
When shall His glories greet our eyes? 

"The waves of ill are high; 

The World with trouble reels; 
All lands and creatures cry; — 

Speed Judgment's chariot- wheels ! 
We wait for Jesus from the skies ; — 
When shall His glories greet our eyes? 

"The times are prophets now; 

They preach impending doom. 
Let each, repentant, bow, 

And saints prepare for home! 
We wait for Jesus from the skies; — 
Soon shall His glories greet our eyes; 

"Hail to the dawning day, 
By holy seers foretold! 
Hail to Messiah's sway, 

And coming Age of Gold! 
We wait for Jesus from the skies ; — 
Soon shall His glories greet our eyes." 



THE WORD IN THE KINGDOM 



Chapter 15 



The supreme authority of the Word of 

God is the question brought before us in the 
opening paragraph of the fifteenth chapter of 
Matthew. The Jewish leaders had placed nu- 
merous rabbinical rules and regulations along- 
side the Word of God, as having equal authority 
with the Scriptures ; and indeed wherever there 
was conflict, the human traditions were counted 
as having higher authority than the divine revela- 
tions. The issue is sharply drawn in the open- 
ing verses of our chapter: 

"Then there come to Jesus from Jerusalem 
Pharisees and Scribes, saying, Why do Thy dis- 
ciples transgress the tradition of the Elders ? for 
they wash not their hands when they eat bread. 
And He answered and said unto them, Why do 
ye also transgress the commandment of God be- 
cause of your tradition? For God said, Honor 
thy father and thy mother; and he that speaketh 
evil of father or mother, let them die the death. 
But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father 
or his mother, That wherewith thou mightest 
have been profited by me is given to God; he 
shall not honor his father. And ye have made 
void the Word of God because of your tradition. 
Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, 
saying, This people honoreth Me with their lips ; 



180 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

but their heart is far from Me. But in vain 
do they worship Me, teaching as their doctrines 
the precepts of men." (Vs. 1-9.) 

That the Lord Jesus attached great import- 
ance to this matter is shown by the public man- 
ner in which He proceeded : "And He called to 
Him the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, 
and understand: Not that which entereth into 
the mouth defileth the man ; but that which pro- 
ceedeth out of the mouth, this defileth the man." 
(Vs. 10, 11.) 

The End of the Law 

Here, then, is an end to all the Law, for it 
had done its work as a ministration of condem- 
nation and death, and the ministration of justi- 
fication and life was soon to be brought to light 
in the Gospel. (Compare 2 Cor. 3.) Christ is 
the end of the Law for righteousness to every- 
one that believeth; and His word to His dis- 
ciples now is, "Sin shall not have dominion over 
you, because ye are not under the Law but under 
grace." (Rom. 6:14.) Under the Levitical 
code certain foods were counted clean and cer- 
tain others unclean, but by the pronouncement in 
our chapter, Jesus swept away all such distinc- 
tions. As Mark records it, Jesus said to His 
disciples, "Perceive ye not, that whatsoever from 
without goeth into the man, it cannot defile him ; 
because it goeth not into his heart, but into his 
belly, and goeth out into the draught? This He 
said, making all meats clean," (Mark 7: 19.) 



DEFILEMENT FROM WITHIN. 181 

Therefore, there is now nothing unclean, of it- 
self; but "every creature of God is good, and 
nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with 
thanksgiving; for it is sanctified through the 
Word of God and prayer." (i Tim. 4:5.) 

Now all this was exceeding bitter to the Jew- 
ish teachers. They had long since lost all heart 
for the Word of the Living God, for it only 
searched and judged them; and all they had left 
were the traditions of the Elders, which called 
for outward morality alone, and exalted formal 
religiousness in the place of real obedience unto 
God. Therefore these Pharisees turned away 
their ears from the truth. "Then came the dis- 
ciples, and said unto Him, Knowest Thou that 
the Pharisees were offended, when they heard 
this saying? But He answered and said, Every 
plant which My Heavenly Father planted not, 
shall be rooted up. Let them alone; they are 
blind guides. And if the blind guide the blind, 
both shall fall into a pit." (Vs. 12-14.) 

Defilement from Within 

This disposed of the hypocritical Pharisees — 
but, alas for the blindness of the human heart, 
even His disciples were far from entering into 
His thought. Peter — always the spokesman who 
blurts out what his brother disciples are think- 
ing but dare not say — "Peter answered and said 
unto Him, Declare unto us the parable." 

The Lord Jesus in His reply was not encour- 
aging personal untidiness among His disciples. 



182 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

The point is not that these men's hands were ac- 
tually dirty, but rather that they had failed to 
go through the interminable round of washings 
that were required by the Rabbis. We have seen 
how very tedious was the process of leading 
even the disciples themselves into the truth. They 
had, all their lives long, been taught that reli- 
gion was largely a matter of outward form. Cer- 
tain feasts must be attended, certain fasts must 
be observed, certain offerings must be given, cer- 
tain garments must be worn, certain prayers must 
be said — this was the only religion they had ever 
known. To unlearn all this was difficult. Jesus 
Himself seemed at times to despair, saying, "I 
have yet many things to say unto you, but ye 
cannot bear them now." But Jesus could sow 
the seed in their hearts and wait for the Holy 
Spirit to bring it to fruition; and this was His 
plan. For He said: "Howbeit when He, the 
Spirit of Truth, is come, He shall guide you into 
all the truth; for He shall not speak from Him- 
self; but what things soever He shall hear, these 
shall He speak; and He shall declare unto you 
the things that are to come. He shall glorify 
Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall de- 
clare it unto you. All things whatsoever the 
Father hath are Mine; therefore said I, that He 
taketh of Mine, and shall declare it unto you. ,, 
(John 16: 12-15.) 

The Canaanitish Woman 

Turning now, with a sore and burdened heart, 



THE CANAANITISH WOMAN. 183 

from His disobedient and gainsaying people — His 
kinsmen according to the flesh — the Lord Jesus 
does a strange thing. We must follow Him 
closely, for since His final break with Israel's 
blind guides in chapter 12, He has been teaching 
by means of typical and dispensational parables 
and miracles. In verses 21-28 the Church is set 
forth in a figure. A Canaanitish woman is rich- 
ly blessed with more than she asks or thinks, 
and by her example teaches a great lesson of 
humble faith. It will not be forgotten that this 
woman was a Gentile, and not only a Gentile, but 
a Canaanite, a representative of that race which 
was under God's peculiar curse. "Thou shalt 
drive out the Canaanites" — this was the word 
to Israel upon their entering the land of Canaan; 
and the promise of Zechariah 14: 21, looking for- 
ward to the restored land and restored Temple 
worship, says, "In that day there shall be no 
more a Canaanite in the house of Jehovah of 
Hosts." But grace is without any limit and 
overleaps all obstacles. Through Israel's fail- 
ure, this despised outcast receives the blessing 
of the Lord that maketh rich. 

It is at first a most astonishing thing to see 
the Lord Jesus refusing to respond to this wom- 
an's cry of need. It is so unlike Him, Whose 
ears are always open to the slightest call upon 
His name. But He cannot answer her. She is 
calling upon Him as the Son of David; and so 
He is, but as such — as Son of David — He has 
nothing to do with a Canaanite. 



184 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

His disciples did not understand His refusal; 
they were annoyed by this persistent woman. 
And they "came and besought Him, saying, 
Send her away; for she crieth after us. But 
He answered and said, I was not sent but unto 
the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 

Let us notice how faithfully and how surely 
this divine Teacher was leading the poor woman 
into the place of blessing; how His heart went 
out to her, and how He longed to bless her. He 
might have healed her daughter instantly, as in- 
deed He finally did, but all this was happening 
for an "ensample" and was to be written for 
our admonition (i Cor. 10: n) and there must 
be no mistake; the way of approach must be 
made perfectly clear. 

"But she came and worshipped Him saying, 
Lord, help me. And He answered and said, It 
is not meet to take the children's bread and cast 
it to the dogs. But she said, Yea, Lord; for 
even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from 
their master's table. Then Jesus answered and 
said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be 
it done unto thee even as thou wilt. And her 
daughter was healed from that hour." (Vs. 25- 
28.) 

She had now dropped the Jewish title, "Son 
of David" — this was His name as Israel's King. 
"Lord, help me!" was her cry, and it is not in 
His heart to resist that call. The Bread of Life 
belonged first to the children of the household, 
that is, to the Jews. If it has come to the Gen- 



THE CANAANITISH WOMAN. 185 

tiles, it is still true that "salvation is of the Jews," 
and it is still for the Jews — "to the Jew first." 
What we have received is just that which was 
first offered to the children and rejected by them, 
and it has fallen to us from the Master's table. 
And even these crumbs are for those only who 
are willing to stoop down to take them — for 
those only who are ready to humble themselves 
and take the place of the dogs, deserving noth- 
ing, earning nothing, meriting nothing. 

Do you think this picture is overdrawn? If 
so, let me ask you to look at the picture drawn 
by the Holy Spirit of Truth, through the Apos- 
tle to the Gentiles, in the Epistle to the Romans 
— chapter 11, verses 11 to 2j. God has wrought 
contrary to nature in saving us who were Gen- 
tiles. He will yet have mercy on Israel and save 
them: 

"I say then, Did they stumble that they might 
fall? God forbid: but by their fall salvation is 
come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to 
jealousy. Now if their fall is the riches of the 
world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; 
how much more their fullness? But I speak to 
you that are (of the) Gentiles. Inasmuch then 
as I am an Apostle of Gentiles, I glorify my 
ministry: if by any means I may provoke to 
jealousy them that are my flesh, and may save 
some of them. For if the casting away of them 
is the reconciling of the world, what shall the 
receiving of them be, but life from the dead? 
And if the firstfruit is holy, so is the lump : and 



186 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

if the root is holy so are the branches. But if 
some of the branches were broken off, and thou, 
being a wild olive, wast grafted in among them, 
and didst become partaker with them of the root 
of the fatness of the olive tree; glory not over 
the branches : but if thou gloriest, it is not thou 
that bearest the root, but the root thee. Thou 
will say then, Branches were broken off, that 
I might be grafted in. Well; by their unbelief 
they were broken off, and thou standest by thy 
faith. Be not high-minded, but fear : for if God 
spared not the natural branches, neither will He 
spare thee. Behold then the goodness and se- 
verity of God: toward them that fell, severity; 
but toward thee, God's goodness, if thou con- 
tinue in His goodness : otherwise thou also shalt 
be cut off. And they also, if they continue not 
in their unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God 
is able to graft them in again. For if thou wast 
cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive 
tree, and wast grafted contrary to nature into 
a good olive tree: how much more shall these 
which are the natural branches, be grafted into 
their own olive tree ? For I would not, brethren, 
have you ignorant of this mystery, lest ye be 
wise in your own conceits, that a hardening in 
part hath befallen Israel, until the fullness of 
the Gentiles be come in; and so all Israel shall 
be saved ; even as it is written, There shall come 
out of Zion the Deliverer; He shall turn away 
ungodliness from Jacob: and this is My cove- 



HE WILL RETURN. 187 

nant unto them, when I shall take away their 
sins." 

He Will Return 

Israel's King will not, therefore, for ever re- 
main away from His own people. He will come 
to them as the Deliverer to turn away ungodli- 
ness from Jacob. This is shown very beautiful- 
ly in the following verse, the 29th : "And Jesus 
departed thence, and came nigh unto the Sea of 
Galilee; and He went up into the mountain, and 
sat there." 

To the disciple who has a heart for "every 
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," 
this morsel is very precious. It foretells the 
King's return to the land of Israel and His en- 
thronement as King in Mount Zion: "He went 
up into the mountain" — not merely "a moun- 
tain," as in the King James version — "He went 
up into the mountain and sat there." It is the 
Second Psalm over again — "Yet have I set My 
King upon My holy hill of Zion." (Ps. 2:6.) 
But His coming will be to Israel not only. He 
will come "nigh unto the sea," ever a type of the 
Gentile nations. Through Israel the whole world 
will be richly blessed. See what follows : "And 
there came unto Him great multitudes, having 
with them the lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and 
many others, and they cast them down at His 
feet; and He healed them: insomuch that the 
multitudes wondered, when they saw the dumb 
speaking, the maimed whole, and the lame walk- 



188 SIMP LB STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

ing, and the blind seeing: and they glorified the 
God of Israel." (Vs. 30, 31-.) 

In the day when Israel shall be reclaimed and 
restored to the land, with the Lord Jesus reign- 
ing as Priest on His throne, the blessing will 
overflow throughout the whole wide world — and 
then shall the multitudes glorify the God of Is- 
rael. Isaiah saw it all and foretold it in the 
second chapter of his Prophecy, saying: 

"It shall come to pass in the latter days, that 
the mountains of Jehovah's house shall be estab- 
lished on the top of the mountains, and shall be 
exalted above the hills; and all nations shall 
flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, 
Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of 
Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and 
He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk 
in His paths : for out of Zion shall go forth the 
Law, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. 
And He will judge between the nations and will 
decide concerning many peoples; and they shall 
beat their swords into plowshares, and their 
spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift 
up sword against nation, neither shall they learn 
war any more. O house of Jacob, come ye, and 
let us walk in the light of Jehovah." (Isa. 2: 

2-5-) 

All this is typically set forth in the story which 
follows. (Vs. 32-39.) In our study of the feed- 
ing of the five thousand, we learned that the 
multitude there typified the "fullness of the Gen- 
tiles," in connection with this present Church 



HE WILL RETURN. 189 

Dispensation. In the twelve baskets taken up 
afterwards we saw that after the Lord has fin- 
ished the work of visiting the Gentiles and has 
gathered out the people for His name, there will 
be ample supply of the Bread of Life for the 
tribes of Israel — a full basket for each tribe. 
In the feeding of the four thousand, the other 
side of the picture is presented; and it is shown 
that after Israel, the earthly people — and four 
is the earth number — after Israel is filled, the 
supply of the Living Bread will still be unex- 
hausted and inexhaustible. The number seven 
stands for completeness, and the seven baskets 
full signify the all-sufficient supply for the na- 
tions — so that through Israel the whole earth 
shall be filled, as the waters cover the sea. Their 
fall is the riches of the world; their loss is the 
riches of the Gentiles — how much more their 
fullness ! 

It is significant that the baskets employed in 
these two miracles were not the same. In the 
feeding of the five thousand, when twelve bas- 
kets were filled with the remaining fragments, 
the basket was the "kophinos," a small hand- 
basket, peculiar to the Jews ; wdiile in the feeding 
of the four thousand, the basket was the "spuris," 
a much larger basket or hamper, used more gen- 
erally by the other nations. 

It is also noteworthy that the Lord Jesus re- 
marked on the number of days during which 
the people had gone without food, "X have com- 



igo SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

passion on the multitude/' He said, "because they 
continue with Me now three days and have noth- 
ing to eat." (V. 32.) In chapter 12:40 He 
had predicted His own resurrection after three 
days in the heart of the earth; and in that resur- 
rection, though they should not discern it, there 
would be untold blessing for them. Doubtless 
also He had in mind these present days, when 
Israel, though in the very presence of the true 
Bread which came down from heaven for them, 
are still without food, for they will not have the 
Bread of God — they continue with Him now 
three days and have nothing to eat. But He 
has compassion upon them and He will yet spread 
a table for them in the wilderness. And then 
shall Israel say, as it is written, "Come and let us 
return unto Jehovah ; for He hath torn, and He 
will heal us ; He hath smitten, and He will bind 
us up. After two days He will revive us; on 
the third day He will raise us up, and we shall 
live before Him. And let us know, let us follow 
on to know Jehovah: His going forth is sure as 
the morning; and He will come unto us as the 
rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth." 
(Hos. 6:1-3.) 

The chapter closes with our Lord finding rest 
in the boat, which, as we learned from the four- 
teenth chapter, is a type of the Church. For in 
the day of His glory the Church will be mani- 
fested with Him in glory. "So shall we ever be 
with the Lord." (1 Thess. 4: 17.) 



HE WILL RETURN. 191 

"What is our sweetest joy — 

Beloved companion, say? 
What our delightful, best employ, 

Untiring, free from all alloy, 

In this dark, cloudy day? 
To speak together of our home, 
Looking for Him Who soon will come. 

"Where do our spirits find 

Refreshment and repose? 
When, heart to heart, and mind to mind 
We search those records God designed 

To medicine our woes; 
And feel, as bright their pages shine, 
Each line was traced by Love divine. 

"We look on all around 

As soon to disappear. 
We listen to the tempest's sound 
As wildly now it sweeps around, 

Without an anxious fear. 
We hear a voice amidst its swell, 
Which whispers, 'All will soon be well.' 

"Yes, soon the Lord will come; 

Then will all trouble cease. 
Earth's kingdoms will His own become; 
Proud Antichrist will meet his doom; 

All will be joy and peace. 
These very storms prepare His way, 
And usher in that glorious day." 



THE PERSON OF THE KING 



Chapter 16 



For many reasons the sixteenth chapter of 
our Gospel is especially important. In this chap- 
ter for the first time in the New Testament, and 
of course for the first time in all the Scriptures, 
the Church of God is mentioned by name, though 
as something yet future. Here is found that 
celebrated conversation between the Lord Jesus 
and the Apostle Peter, which has constituted for 
centuries the battleground of controversialists 
among the sects, and to this day marks a sharp 
line of cleavage between the Romanist and the 
Protestant. Here also do we see the Lord Jesus 
beginning to foretell His death and resurrec- 
tion. 

We do well to tread softly as we enter upon 
the consideration of such a passage of Scrip- 
ture. The adorable Son of God is girding Him- 
self for the battle. His people hate Him, but 
He loves them with a perfect love. They will 
not have Him, but He cannot give them up. He 
will die for them, the Just for the unjust, that 
He might bring them to God. He must sanctify 
them by His own blood, suffering without the 
gate. May God Himself help us to enter some- 
what with Him into His passion! Let us be 
much in prayer that we may know the fellowship 
of His sufferings, being conformed unto His 

192 



THE PERSON OF THE KING. 193 

death. Let us go forth unto Him without the 
camp, bearing His reproach. 

Thanks be to God, His death is not in vain. 
His people, who rejected Him in the Day of His 
humiliation, shall be willing in the Day of His 
power. (Ps. no.) Then shall they see Him 
Whom they pierced and hail Him as their long- 
looked-for Messiah. "Behold, Jehovah hath 
proclaimed unto the end of the earth, Say ye to 
the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation com- 
eth; behold, His reward is with Him, and His 
recompense is before Him. And they shall be 
called, The Holy People, The Redeemed of Je- 
hovah: and thou (i. e., Jerusalem) shalt be 
called, Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken." 
(Isa. 62: 11, 12.) 

Then shall Israel ask, "Who is this that Com- 
eth from Edom, with dyed garments from Boz- 
rah? this that is glorious in His apparel, march- 
ing in the greatness of His strength ?" 

And He shall answer, "I that speak in right- 
eousness, mighty to save." 

And then shall come the question, "Wherefore 
art thou red in Thine apparel, and Thy garments 
like him that treadeth in the winevat?" 

And He shall reply, "I have trodden the wine- 
press alone ; and of the peoples there was no man 
with Me; yea, I will tread them in Mine anger 
and trample them in My wrath: and their life- 
blood shall be sprinkled upon My garments, and 
I will stain all My raiment. For the Day of 
Vengeance is in My heart, and My Year of Re- 



194 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

demption is come. And I looked, and there was 
none to help; and I wondered that there was 
none to uphold ; therefore Mine own arm brought 
salvation unto Me ; and My wrath, it upheld me. 
And I will tread down the peoples in Mine anger, 
and make them drunk in My wrath, and I will 
pour out their lifeblood on the earth. ,, (Isa. 63 : 
i-6.)- 

"The Son of God goes forth to war, 

A kingly crown to gain; 
His blood-red banner streams afar, 

Who follows in His train?" 

Our chapter opens with a hypocritical request 
from the Pharisees and Sadducees, who came, 
trying Him, and asking Him to show them a 
sign from heaven. These were the formal reli- 
gionists of the day. The Pharisees, with their 
smug self-satisfaction, were outwardly very de- 
vout and extraordinarily punctilious in the ful- 
filment of every jot and tittle of religious cere- 
mony. At heart they were far from God and 
filled with selfishness and corruption. The 
Sadducees were the materialists, denying the 
resurrection and everything spiritual. They were 
moralists, priding themselves upon their right- 
eousness and integrity. All this was mere out- 
ward show, for inwardly they too were full of 
sin and uncleanness. These were the two classes 
which made up in large part Israel's religious 
leaders. Blind leaders of the blind they were, 
despite their fair professions, just the offspring 
of vipers, the brood of Satan. Whited sepul- 



"WHO SAY YE THAT I AM?" 195 

chers, indeed, outwardly beautiful, but inwardly 
full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness ! 

The Lord Jesus disposed of their request with 
a word. "Ye know how to discern the face of 
the heaven/' said He; "but ye cannot discern 
the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous 
generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall 
be no sign given to it, but the sign of Jonah. 
(Compare Ch. 12:39, 40.) And He left them 
and departed." (Vs. 3, 4.) 

He then warns His disciples against the leaven 
of the Pharisees and Sadducees, meaning their 
teaching. (Vs. 5-12.) This was considered in 
connection with our study of the parable of the 
leaven in chapter 13. 

"Who Say Ye that I Am?" 

Upon reaching the region of Csesarea Phil- 
ippi, the Lord Jesus asked His disciples, saying, 
Who do men say that the Son of Man is? And 
they said, Some say, John the Baptist; some, 
Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or One of the 
Prophets. He made no comment on this, for 
He was leading up to the most important ques- 
tion that can be asked of men — "But who say ye 
that I am?" (Vs. 13-15.) 

Nothing is so important as this — "What think 
ye of Jesus?" Everything depends upon the 
answer to that question — everything, for time and 
for eternity. Your personal relation to the per- 
sonal Jesus will determine your destiny through- 
out the endless Ages — "Who say ye that I am?" 



ig6 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

And Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou 
art the Christ, the Son of the Living God." 

It is written that there is joy in the presence 
of the angels of God over one sinner that re- 
penteth. (Lu. 15:10.) It is the Lord Jesus 
Himself Who thus rejoices in the presence of the 
angels. It is thus that He sees of the travail of 
His soul and is satisfied. Whenever a soul is 
born again by the incorruptible seed of the Word 
of God, that is joy for the Saviour of men. This 
was the joy which was set before Him and for 
which He endured the Cross, despising the 
shame. What, then, think you, must have been 
the joy of that great loving heart, when this 
confession burst from Simon Peter's lips? This 
was the very first soul to come to saving knowl- 
edge of the truth under the personal ministry of 
the Lord Jesus. If this fact be borne carefully 
in mind, it will greatly asssist us in the under- 
standing of that which follows: 

"And Jesus answered and said unto him, 
Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah; for flesh 
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but 
My Father Who is in heaven." (V. 17.) 

In the sixth chapter of John's Gospel, our Lord 
Jesus said to His enemies, "Ye have seen Me, 
and yet believe not. All that which the Father 
giveth Me shall come unto Me; and him that 
cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." When 
the Jews murmured concerning Him because He 
said, "I am the Bread Which came down out of 
heaven," His reply was, "Murmur not among 



"WHO SAY YE THAT I AM?" 197 

yourselves. No man can come to Me, except the 
Father Which sent Me draw him." This teach- 
ing stumbled many even of His disciples; that 
is, of those persons who were following Him 
about and hearing His teachings. They were 
called disciples, for they were followers and 
learners. They had no heart for God, though 
they delighted in the spectacular display of di- 
vine power in such miracles as the feeding of 
multitudes with a handful of bread and fishes. 
They sought Him because they ate of the loaves 
and were filled. When, therefore, He turned 
upon them as in the sixth of John, they said, 
"This is a hard saying; who can hear it." But 
Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Doth this 
cause you to stumble? What then if ye should 
behold the Son of Man ascending where He was 
before ? It is the spirit that giveth life ; the flesh 
profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken 
to you are spirit, and are life. But there are 
some of you that believe not. * * * * For this 
cause have I said unto you, that no man can 
come unto Me, except it be given unto him of 
the Father. " Upon this many of His disciples 
went back, and walked no more with Him. Jesus 
said therefore unto the Twelve, "Would ye also 
go away ?" and it was Simon Peter who said, 
"Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the 
words of eternal life. And we have believed 
and know that Thou art the Holy One of God." 
It is written in 1 John 5 : 1 that whosoever 
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. 



198 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

This belief — when it is real heart-belief, real 
trust — is the only and all-sufficient means of sal- 
vation; by this, man lays hold on eternal life. 
The Lord Jesus has been waiting upon His Fa- 
ther; and here at length there is a man born 
again by the Word of the Living God. For there 
can be no doubt that precisely at this point in 
the sixteenth chapter of Matthew we have the 
regeneration of Simon Peter — his passing from 
death into life. It is the believing heart of the 
new-born soul that speaks in the great confes- 
sion — "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
Living God." Jesus recognizes the confession 
as real, for he at once ascribes the work of grace, 
evidenced by it, to His Father in heaven. 

It is truly deplorable that the simple words of 
the Lord Jesus in the verses that follow should 
have been so obscured and confused by 
the fog of controversy. May God Himself as- 
sist us as we seek to study these words, that we 
may approach them in simplicity and with the 
desire only to know what our Lord meant to 
express through them! 

"And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, 
and upon this rock I will build My Church ; and 
the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 
I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom 
of Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on 
earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever 
thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heav- 
en." (Vs. 18, 19.) 



"UPON THIS ROCK/' 199 

"Upon This Rock" 

The storm of conflict raging about this pas- 
sage largely turns upon the question as to what 
our Lord Jesus meant to signify by the word 
"rock." Peter is the English equivalent for the 
Greek word, "petros," meaning a stone; while 
"rock" is "petra" in the Greek. In the original 
text this distinction is made — "Thou art Petros 
and upon this petra I will build My Church." 

The whole fabric of the papacy rests upon the 
Roman interpretation of this passage, by which 
it is claimed — 

First — That the rock was Peter himself. The 
Romanist commentators point out that our Lord 
spoke not Greek but Syriac or Aramaic, and 
that in the language employed by Him there is 
but one word for a stone and a rock; namely, 
"cepha." Thus the declaration would read, 
"Thou are Cepha, and upon this cepha I will 
build My Church." They also claim 

Second — That the fact that Peter is the rock 
upon which the Church is built, together with 
the further fact that to Peter were delivered the 
keys of the Kingdom of Heaven — that these 
facts establish the primacy of Peter among the 
Apostles. And the still further claim is made 

Third — That the primacy of Peter has descend- 
ed to his successors in office as Bishop of Rome. 
In short, that Peter was the first Pope and that 
all the Popes are fully authorized as his sue- 



200 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

cessors by the declaration of the Lord Jesus in 
Matthew 16. 

Among the Protestant commentators there is 
no intelligible concensus of opinion. By some it 
is claimed that by the expression "this rock" is 
meant Christ Himself. It is suggested that per- 
haps the Lord Jesus, while speaking, laid His 
hand on His own breast, as when He said "De- 
stroy this temple," meaning the temple of His 
body. (John 2: 19.) 

Others, by "this rock" understand Peter's 
confession of faith. By these it is pointed out 
that Peter's confession — "Thou art the Christ, 
the Son of the Living God" — is the great truth 
upon which the Church rests; and that Christ 
had this in mind when he spoke to Peter, as if 
He had said, "This is that great truth upon 
which I will build My Church." 

It is also claimed, among the Protestant wri- 
ters pretty generally, that the keys of the King- 
dom of Heaven, and the power to bind and loose, 
were delivered not only to Peter, but also to 
the other Apostles, and to the whole body of the 
Church. And in proof of this contention refer- 
ence is made to the passage in John (Ch. 20:22, 
23), where the risen Lord breathed upon the as- 
sembled disciples and said unto them, "Receive 
ye the Holy Spirit: whose soever sins ye for- 
give, they are forgiven unto them; and whose 
soever sins ye retain, they are retained." There 
is no question but that in the passage in John 
and also in a similar passage in Matthew (Ch. 



THE CHURCH'S ONE FOUNDATION. 201 

18:18), the authority conferred was upon the 
whole Church. But just how that has anything 
to do with the interpretation of the 16th of Mat- 
thew is not apparent. 

Without assuming any knowledge beyond that 
of our brethren, and without any desire to be 
wise above what is written, let us seek to dis- 
cover, as the Spirit of Truth may be pleased to 
guide us, whatever God has revealed in the 
Scriptures, bearing upon the interpretation of 
our chapter. Surely, it cannot be possible that 
God has left such important questions obscure 
and incapable of solution as are presented to us 
here. Remembering, then, that these things of 
the Spirit cannot be searched out by the natural 
man, and relying upon our divine Guide to lead 
us into the truth, let us examine the testimony 
of the Word of God as to the portion of Scrip- 
ture before us. 

The Church's One Foundation 

First — We are not for a moment left in doubt 
as to the foundation of the Church. "Other 
foundation can no man lay than that which is 
laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Cor. 3:11.) 
This is He of Whom it is written in Isa. 28: 
16, "Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a 
Stone, a tried Stone, a precious Cornerstone of 
sure foundation." It was this same Peter, filled 
with the Holy Spirit, who, speaking of His as- 
cended Lord, in Acts 4: 11, 12, said, "He is the 
Stone, Which was set at nought of you the 



202 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

builders, which was made the Head of the Cor- 
ner. And in none other is there salvation; for 
neither is there any other name under heaven, 
that is given among men, wherein we must be 
saved. " And it was Peter again, who is his 
First Epistle, referring to the passage from 
Isaiah, quoted above, wrote of the Lord Jesus, 
"Unto Whom coming, a living Stone, rejected 
indeed of men, but with God elect, precious, ye 
also as living stones, are built up a spiritual 
house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spir- 
itual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus 
Christ. Because it is contained in Scripture, Be- 
hold, I lay in Zion a chief Cornerstone, elect, 
precious ; and he that believeth on Him shall not 
be put to shame. For unto you therefore that 
believe is the preciousness : but for such as dis- 
believe, the Stone which the builders rejected, 
the same was made the Head of the Corner; 
and, a Stone of stumbling, and a Rock of of- 
fence." (i Pet. 2:4-8.) The rock is used as a 
symbol of Christ many times in the Scriptures, 
as, for example, in 1 Cor. 10:4, and doubtless 
also in Matt. 7 : 24, 25 and Lu. 6 : 48. We may, 
therefore, count it settled that 

"The Church's one Foundation 

Is Jesus Christ, her Lord. 
She is His new creation 

By water and the Word. 
From Heaven He came and sought her, 

To be His holy bride; 
With His own blood He bought her 

And for her life He died." 



THE CHURCH'S ONE FOUNDATION. 203 

Second — Nor is there any slightest question 
as to the Head of the Church. God hath raised 
His Son from the dead, and made Him to sit 
at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all 
rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, 
and every name that is named, not only in this 
Age, but also in that which is to come; and He 
hath put all things in subjection under His feet, 
and given Him to be Head over all things to the 
Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him 
that filleth all in all. (Eph. 1:20-23.) The 
Spirit of God declares unto us, in Eph. 4:8-16, 
that the whole purpose of gifts in the Church is 
that we may grow up in all things into Him, 
Who is the Head, even Christ; from Whom all 
the body fitly framed and knit together, through 
that which every joint supplieth, according to 
the working in due measure of each several part, 
maketh the increase of the body unto the build- 
ing up of itself in love? That Christ is the Head 
of the Church is repeated in Eph. 5 : 23 and Col. 
1:18, while in Col. 2:18, 19 we are warned 
against those teachers who fail to give Him that 
place. 

Third — And yet, in spite of all that we have 
so far discovered, it still seems to be only fair 
and honest to conclude that when Jesus said, 
"Thou art a stone and upon this rock I will 
build My Church/' He meant us to understand 
that by the rock, as well as the stone, He meant 
Peter himself. Any other conclusion makes our 
Lord's words, "Thou art Peter," to mean noth- 



204 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

ing and to have no connection with what fol- 
lows. 

Indeed, it seems very clear that if we had our 
Lord's words in the language in which He spoke 
them, we should find no difference between the 
word translated Peter and the word rendered 
rock. This at least is the view maintained by 
many of the private translators of the New Tes- 
tament. Dr. Young's Bible Translation makes 
the disputed passage read, "Thou art a rock, 
and upon this rock I will build My Assembly.'' 

Wakefield reads it, "Thou art truly named 
Peter, and upon this very stone I will build My 
Church." 

George Campbell renders it, "Thou art named 
Rock, and on the rock I will build My Church." 

Taylor's New Testament has the word "Rock" 
in brackets, reading thus, "Thou art Peter 
[Rock], and upon this rock I will build My 
Church." 

The Emphatic Diaglott reads, "Thou art a 
Rock, and on this rock I will build My Church." 

Samuel Sharpe also employs the brackets, 
reading, "Thou art Peter [or a rock], and on 
this rock I will build My Church." 

Andrews Norton shares the same view, for 
his translation reads, "You are, as I have named 
you, a Rock, and on this rock I will build My 
Church." 

Charles Thomson is very emphatic, rendering 
these words, "Thou art named Peter (a rock), 



■ THE CHURCH'S ONE FOUNDATION. 205 

and upon this very rock I will build My 
Church." 

And the Twentieth Century New Testament 
reading is, "Your name is 'Peter' — a Rock, and 
on this rock I will build My Church." 

And this conclusion does not at all affect the 
former one that Christ is the Foundation of the 
Church. In Ephesians 2 : 20, the Church is rep- 
resented as being built upon the foundation of 
the Apostles and Prophets, Christ Jesus Him- 
self being the chief Cornerstone. In the de- 
scription of the Bride, the Lamb's wife, in Rev. 
21, it is written that the city wall has twelve 
foundations, and on them twelve names of the 
twelve Apostles of the Lamb. Now Peter was 
the first of the Apostles of the Lamb who was 
gathered as a living stone unto Christ the great 
Living Stone. The building began, after Christ 
Himself, with Peter. He was the first stone to 
be laid upon the great underlying Foundation, 
which is Jesus Christ. Therefore, Jesus could 
say to Peter, as He did say, "Upon this rock I 
will build My Church." 

Even to this day, whenever an important build- 
ing is to be erected, the first thing to be done, 
after the foundation is completed, is to lay what 
we call the cornerstone. This is not the kind 
of cornerstone the New Testament uses as a 
figure of Christ, for the cornerstone in that case 
supports the whole building. But the importance 
attached to the modern cornerstone consists in 
the fact that it is the first stone to be laid after 



206 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

the substructure is completed. Otherwise, it is 
no more important than the stones at the other 
corners, but because it is the very first stone in 
the superstructure, we lay it with public cere- 
monies and give it a place of honor. In a sense, 
the whole building is built upon it, for the build- 
ing begins with it. Now this is what Peter is 
in the Church. He is not and he never was a 
Pope. There is not a scrap of evidence that he 
was ever Bishop of Rome. He is a brother in a 
common brotherhood, though he was the first to 
enter that brotherhood. The Romanist premise 
does not lead to the Romanist conclusion. 

Peter himself, by the Holy Spirit, has once 
and for ever disposed of all the pretensions of 
the Papal hierarchy, falsely made in his name. 
Hear him as he speaks in I Pet. 5: 1-4: 

"The Elders therefore among you I exhort, 
who am a fellow-Elder, and a witness of the suf- 
ferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the 
glory that shall be revealed. Tend the flock of 
God which is among you, exercising the over- 
sight, not of constraint, but willingly, according 
to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but 
of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the 
charge allotted to you, but making yourselves 
ensamples to the flock. And when the Chief 
Shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall receive the 
crown of glory that fadeth not away." 

Fourth — As to Peter's successors, he has none. 
There is not the slightest ground here for the 
doctrine of Apostolic Succession. Christ has no 



THE CHURCH'S ONE FOUNDATION. 207 

Vicegerent on the earth and needs none, for He 
Himself is present with His Church — He never 
leaves her nor forsakes her. As for the Priest- 
hood in the Church, there can be no separate 
order of Priests, for the Church is a royal Priest- 
hood; every believer is a Priest having full ac- 
cess into the Holy of Holies, where God dwells. 
(See Heb. 10: 19-25.) 

Dean Alford, in his "Greek Testament for 
English Readers/' says : "The name Peter (not 
now first given, but prophetically bestowed by 
our Lord on His first interview with Simon, 
John 1:43) or Cephas, signifying a rock, the 
termination being only altered from Petra to 
Petros to suit the masculine appellation, denotes 
the personal position of this Apostle in the 
building of the Church of Christ. He was the 
first of those foundation stones (Rev. 21 : 14) 
on which the living Temple of God was built: 
this building itself beginning on the day of Pen- 
tecost by the laying of three thousand living 
stones on this very foundation. That this is 
the simple and only interpretation of the w r ords 
of our Lord, the whole usage of the New Testa- 
ment shows : in which not only mere confes- 
sions, but men, are uniformly the pillars or 
stones of the spiritual building. See 1 Pet. 2: 
4-6; 1 Tim. 3: 15 (where the pillar is not Tim- 
otheus, but the congregation of the faithful) and 
note : Gal. 2:9; Eph. 2 : 20 ; Rev. 3:12. And it 
is on Peter, as by divine revelation making this 
confession, as thus under the influence of the 



208 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

Holy Ghost, as standing out before the Apostles 
in the strength of this faith, as himself founded 
on the one foundation, Jesus Christ, i Cor. 3 : 
11 — that the Jewish portion of the Church was 
built, Acts 2 to 5, and the Gentile, Acts 10 and 
11. After the last event, we hear little of him, 
but during this, the first building time, he is 
never lost sight of: see especially Acts 1 : 15; 2: 
14, 37; 3:12; 4:8; 5: 15, 29; 9:34, 40; 10:25, 
26. We may certainly exclaim with Bengel, 
'AH this may be said with safety; for what 
has this to do with Rome?' Nothing can be 
further from any legitimate interpretation of 
this promise than the idea of a perpetual primacy 
in the successors of Peter; the very notion of 
succession is precluded by the form of the com- 
parison, which concerns the person, and him 
only, so far as it involves a direct promise. In 
its other and general sense, as applying to all 
those living stones (Peter's own expression for 
members of Christ's Church) of whom the 
Church should be built, it implies, as Origen ex- 
cellently comments on it, saying, that all this 
must be understood as said not only to Peter, 
as in the letter of the Gospel, but to every one 
who is such as Peter here shewed himself, as 
the spirit of the Gospel teaches us. The appli- 
cation of the promise to St. Peter has been elab- 
orately impugned by Dr. Wordsworth. His zeal 
to appropriate the rock to Christ has somewhat 
overshot itself. In arguing that the term can 
apply to none but God, he will find it difficult 



KEYS OF THE KINGDOM. 209 

surely to deny all reference to a rock in the name 
Peter. To me, it is equally difficult, nay impos- 
sible to deny all reference in 'upon this rock/ 
to the preceding word Peter. Let us keep to 
the plain straightforward sense of Scripture, 
however that sense may have been misused by 
Rome. ,, (Vol. 1, part 1, page 119.) 

Keys of the Kingdom 

Fifth — The act of Christ in delivering the 
keys of the Kingdom of Heaven into Peter's 
hands, with authority to bind or loose, will be- 
come equally clear if we are careful to search 
for its meaning only in the Scriptures themselves. 
It is only when we turn aside from this well of 
living water to the hewn cisterns of human teach- 
ing and tradition, that we are brought to confu- 
sion. The Lord Jesus was about to leave the 
earth, so far as His bodily presence was con- 
cerned, and He was to be absent for a long 
time. It was needful that the King, before 
His departure, should make it known who could 
enter the Kingdom and upon what conditions. 
The New Testament had not yet been written. 
He here selects Peter, His first convert, to speak 
for Him in this regard. It is plain that only 
Peter is meant, for the pronouns employed are 
not plural but singular. 

Now if we carefully trace Peter's movements 
after His Lord's departure, we shall find that it 
is he and he alone who opened the doors of the 



210 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

Kingdom of Heaven. There were three of these 
keys received by Peter from the Lord Jesus' 
hands. The first was used on that great Day of 
Pentecost, when Peter was the spokesman and 
when he opened the doors of the Kingdom to 
the people of Israel. "The promise is unto 
you," said he, "and unto your children, and to 
all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord 
our God shall call." (Acts 2 : 39.) To be sure, 
the other disciples also preached on that day, 
but Peter had to be present and approving. He 
was the chief spokesman. 

Again, after the persecution that arose in con- 
nection with the death of Stephen, Philip went 
to Samaria, and preached to the Samaritans. 
But, though many believed the Word, the Holy 
Spirit fell on none of them. "Now when the 
Apostles that were at Jerusalem heard that Sa- 
maria had received the Word of God, they sent 
unto them Peter and John who, when they were 
come down, prayed for them, that they might 
receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet it was fallen 
upon none of them; only they had been bap- 
tized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then 
laid they their hands on them, and they received 
the Holy Spirit." (Ac. 8:14-27.) This was 
Peter's second key. He had now opened the 
doors of the Kingdom to the Jews and the Sa- 
maritans. 

The third and last key was used in Acts 10, 
to open these doors to the great Gentile world. 
Cornelius, the Roman centurion, was commanded 



KEYS OF THE KINGDOM. 211 

by an angel of God to send to Joppa for Peter, 
and Peter, by the vision of the great sheet, was 
shown that even the unclean Gentiles were no 
longer unclean, for God had cleansed them. 
Peter went to Cornelius' house and preached the 
Gospel to those assembled there. Peter was not 
the Apostle to the Gentiles; that was Paul's of- 
fice, and Paul was converted in the preceding 
chapter. But Peter, the Apostle to the Circum- 
cision, must be the first to take the Gospel to the 
Uncircumcision, for Peter had the keys. In each 
of these three instances, God showed by the vis- 
ible descent of the Holy Ghost upon the hearers, 
that what Peter was doing upon the earth was 
ratified in heaven. Never again was there any 
use for keys to the Kingdom, for the doors were 
wide open, so that all who would might come. 
In the case of the Ephesians, who had only re- 
ceived John's baptism (Acts 19) Peter's presence 
was not needed, for he had already opened the 
Kingdom to all Gentiles. 

In the concluding paragraph of our chapter, 
Peter shows that though he might be called a 
Pope, he was at least not an infallible one. It 
is a humbling instance of how prone the human 
heart is to yield itself to the enemy. Satan is 
ever alert at the times of spiritual exaltation 
and exultation among the Lord's people — ever 
seeking to thrust us down from the pinnacle of 
the Temple. Our Lord reminds His disciples 
that even for the saints, the final reward will be 
according to their deeds, (V, 27,) Then in the 



212 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

last verse He points them on to the coming of 
the Kingdom as it is about to be pictured on the 
Mount of Transfiguration. This will come be- 
fore us in our study of the next chapter. 



THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM 



Chapter 17 



In the seventeenth chapter we have a descrip- 
tion of the Transfiguration of the Lord Jesus. 
The event is a prophecy, in the form of a pic- 
ture — a pictorial preview — of the Son of Man 
coming in His Kingdom. This appears if we 
read the words of the Lord Jesus in the final 
verse of chapter 16, together with the opening 
paragraph of chapter 17. 

"Verily, I say unto you, There are some of 
them that stand here, who shall in no wise taste 
of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in 
His Kingdom. And after six days Jesus taketh 
with Him Peter, and James, and John his broth- 
er, and bringeth them up into a high mountain 
apart ; and He was transfigured before them ; and 
His face did shine as the sun, and His garments 
became white as the light. And behold, there 
appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking 
with Him, and Peter answered and said unto 
Jesus, Lord, it is good to be here: if Thou wilt, 
I will make here three tabernacles : one for Thee, 
and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While 
he was yet speaking, behold, a bright cloud over- 
shadowed them ; and behold, a voice out of the 
cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son, in Whom 
I am well pleased ; hear ye Him. And when the 
disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and 

213 



214 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched 
them and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And 
lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, save Jesus 
only." (Ch. 16:28-17:8.) 

And not only in Matthew, but also in Mark 
and Luke, the account of the Transfiguration 
scene is found immediately preceded by these 
words of Jesus, as if to prepare the disciples for 
what they were about to see, and to show them 
the significance of it. In Mark it reads : "Verily 
I say unto you, There are some here of them 
that stand by who shall in no wise taste of death, 
till they see the Kingdom of God come with 
power." Then follows the Transfiguration story. 
In Luke, Jesus is quoted as saying, "I tell you 
of a truth, There are some that stand here, who 
shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the 
Kingdom of God." And this is followed again 
by the account of the scene in the Mount. 

In one of Peter's Epistles we have the Holy 
Spirit's own explanation of the Transfiguration 
of the Lord Jesus. In the first chapter of his 
second letter, Peter is urging upon his readers 
the importance of diligence to make their calling 
and election sure. "For if ye do these things," 
he writes, "ye shall never stumble, for thus shall 
be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the 
eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ. Wherefore I shall be ready always to 
put you in remembrance of these things, though 
ye know them and are established in the truth 
which is with you. And I think it right, as long 



THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM. 215 

as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by put- 
ting you in remembrance ; knowing that the put- 
ting off of my tabernacle cometh swiftly, even 
as our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto me. Yea, 
I will give diligence that at every time ye may 
be able after my decease to call these things to 
remembrance. For we did not follow cunningly 
devised fables, when we made known unto you 
the power and coming our Lord Jesus Christ, 
but we were eyewitnesses of His Majesty. For 
He received from God the Father honor and 
glory, when there was borne such a voice to 
Him by the Majestic Glory, This is My beloved 
Son, in Whom I am well pleased. And this 
voice we ourselves heard, borne out of heaven, 
when we were with Him in the holy mount. 
And we have the Word of Prophecy, more sure; 
whereunto ye do well that ye take heed in your 
hearts, as unto a lamp shining in a squalid place, 
until the Day dawn and the Day star arise." 
(2 Pet. 1 : 10-19.) 

Through Peter, therefore, we learn that we are 
to look upon the picture before us as an illus- 
tration, showing forth in a type "the Son of Man 
coming in His Kingdom." This makes all per- 
fectly clear; and with this key in our hand we 
shall find everything opening before us. As we 
look upon this scene, let us realize that we are 
examining a photograph, a miniature, of the com- 
ing Kingdom. In the sixteenth chapter the suf- 
ferings of the Christ are foretold: in the seven- 
teenth we are brought face to face with the 



2i6 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

glories that shall follow them. (See i Pet. I : 
ii.) The Rapture of the Church is, of course, 
not in view here. It is that indeed for which we 
wait and for which we are longing. But the 
Rapture of the Church is a part of Paul's Gos- 
pel, and was never made known to the Apostles 
before his day. What we are to see in this chap- 
ter in Matthew is the Kingdom, as it shall be 
set up on the earth, after the Son of Man has 
returned in the clouds with power and great 
glory. All the elements of the Kingdom are dis- 
cernible in the story of the Transfiguration: 

First — Jesus Himself is the centre of the pic- 
ture. When Peter suggested three tents — one 
each for Jesus and Moses and Elijah, as if to 
put them all on a common level — Moses and 
Elijah immediately disappeared. They repre- 
sented the Law and the Prophets, all testifying 
of Jesus, the center of everything. Christ is the 
end of the Law, and the testimony of Jesus is 
the spirit of Prophecy. So in the coming King- 
dom, the Son of Man will be Lord of all. What 
a blessed thought: that this same Jesus, Who 
was rejected and scourged, and spat upon, will 
then be owned, and adored, and worshipped. He 
was humiliated; He will be exalted. He was 
crucified; He will be glorified. He Who before 
Pontius Pilate witnessed the good confession, 
will in that day be manifested as "the blessed 
and only Potentate, the King of Kings, and Lord 
of Lords." 

Second — Moses, in this portrait of the com- 



THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM. 217 

ing Kingdom, represents those who have a part 
in the First Resurrection. When our Lord 
Jesus shall come, all who sleep in Jesus shall 
God bring with Him. "The Lord Himself shall 
descend from heaven w r ith a shout, with the 
voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of 
God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first." 
(1 Thess. 4: 14-16.) "As in Adam all die, so 
also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each 
in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; then 
they that are Christ's at His coming." (1 Cor. 
15:22, 23.) "This is the First Resurrection: 
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the 
First Resurrection: over these the second death 
hath no power ; but they shall be Priests of God 
and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thou- 
sand years." (Rev. 20: 5, 6.) That Moses was 
actually and bodily present on the Holy Mount 
is indicated in Jude 9, where Michael the Arch- 
angel is said to have contended with the devil 
about the body of Moses. Doubtless the body of 
Moses was raised from the dead in order to ap- 
pear in the scene before us. Thus Moses, who 
was once denied entrance to the Promised Land, 
is seen in the land, having reached it by the 
heavenly route. He stands not now on Mount 
Pisgah, viewing the land from afar, but on the 
Mount of Glory in the very midst of the land it- 
self. He who had looked across the centuries, 
and seen by faith the coming Deliverer, and 
counted the reproach of the Christ greater riches 
than the treasures of Egypt, is now realizing 



218 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW, 

something of the recompense of reward. For 
more than a millennium this Moses has been in 
the heavenly courts, holding sweet communion 
with his Lord, and it is no strange thing for him 
now to stand with Him in the mount and talk 
with Him. Moses' body had been sleeping in 
the dust of Mount Nebo ever since the day God 
called him hence, but his soul and spirit, being 
"absent. from the body," had all this time been 
"present with the Lord." Moses therefore was 
literally and bodily and visibly present in the 
holy mount, and so all the saints who sleep in 
Jesus will be literally present when the glory is 
revealed; when He shall appear, then shall they 
also appear with Him in glory. (Col. 3:4.) 
Moses is a perfect type of the believer who is 
called upon to pass through the gates of death. 
When his Lord called him, he went up with Him 
into the mountain and died there according to 
the Word of Jehovah; and He buried him in the 
valley. For him death had lost its sting and its 
victory, for he had seen the promises afar off and 
embraced them. He just fell asleep in Jesus — 
asleep in the everlasting arms. 

"Asleep in Jesus — blessed sleep ! 
From which none ever wakes to weep. 
A calm and undisturbed repose, 
Unbroken by the last of foes. 

"Asleep in Jesus — O how sweet 
To be for such a slumber meet! 
With holy confidence to sing, 
That death hath lost its venomed sting." 



THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM. 219 

Third — To sleep in Jesus is indeed blessed, 
but there is something even better. Elijah, who 
went up to heaven without death, represents, in 
this dispensational picture, that company of liv- 
ing believers who shall not die, but who shall be 
changed in a moment and caught up to meet the 
Lord. "Behold, I tell you a mystery : We shall 
not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a mo- 
ment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last 
trump ; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead 
shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be 
changed." (1 Cor. 15:51, 52.) It was while 
discussing the Resurrection at the last day that 
Jesus said to Martha, "I am the Resurrection 
and the Life; he that believeth on Me, though 
he die, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth 
and believeth on Me shall never die." 
(John 11:25, 26.) When the Lord Him- 
self shall descend from heaven and raise 
from the dead all who sleep in Him, then 
we that are alive, that are left, shall together 
with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the 
Lord in the air. (1 Thess. 4: 17.) This is the 
blessed hope of Titus 2: 13; it is the purifying 
hope of 1 John 3:3; it is the hope set before 
us in Heb. 6: 18-20, the hope "which we have as 
an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and 
stedfast and entering into that which is within 
the veil; whither as a Forerunner Jesus entered 
for us, having become a High Priest for ever 
after the order of Melchizedek." To sleep in 
Jesus is indeed blessed; it is precious to know 



220 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

that He leadeth even through the Valley of the 
Shadow of Death; but — 

"Oh, joy! Oh, delight! Should we go without dying! 
No sickness, no sadness, no dread and no crying! 
Caught up through the clouds with our Lord into 

glory, 
When Jesus receives His own!" 

Fourth — Yet another class is represented in 
the Transfiguration. When at the end of The 
Great Tribulation, the Lord Jesus shall come to 
the earth as Son of Man, to judge the world 
and reign as the blessed and only Potentate, His 
people Israel will be converted and gathered 
unto Him at Mount Zion. This is set forth in 
the presence of the three Apostles, Peter and 
James and John. These were not glorified in 
the picture, for they represent the Jews who will 
pass into the Kingdom as an earthly people. 

Peter's request that three tabernacles be built 
is a part of the type ; for according to Zechariah, 
the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom will 
be followed by a revival of the Feast of Taber- 
nacles. (Zech. 14:16-21.) 

The multitude at the foot of the mountain may 
also be included in the type, representing the 
Gentile nations, to whom the blessing is to come 
through Israel in that glad time. 

The Coming of Elijah 

On the way down the mountain side, Jesus 
commanded that the vision be kept secret until 



SATAN'S POWER BROKEN. 221 

after His resurrection. It was a spiritual seed, 
to bring forth fruit in due time. In reply to a 
question about Elijah's coming before the great 
and dreadful Day of the Lord, He replied that 
Elijah must indeed come and restore all things; 
but if Israel had received John Baptist, he would 
have been Elijah unto them, for he had come in 
the spirit and power of Elijah. (Vs. 9-13.) 

Satan's Power Broken 

The healing of the demon-possessed epileptic 
— bound by Satan — at the foot of the mountain, 
is a reminder of the universal healing which will 
follow the coming of the Son of Man and the 
restoration of His scattered people. "Israel shall 
blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world 
with fruit." When the Deliverer shall come 
forth out of Zion faith will have almost perished 
from the earth — even His disciples being power- 
less, "because of their little faith." (Vs. 14-21. 
Compare Luke 18:8.) 

By Way of the Cross 

The glory must be preceded by the sufferings 
of the Christ. The way to the throne was the 
Way of the Cross. Therefore, "While they abode 
in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of 
Man shall be delivered up into the hands of 
men; and they shall kill Him, and the third day 
He shall be raised up." And the disciples, who 
could not see the end from the beginning, were 
greatly distressed. They had not yet the eye of 



222 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

faith by which to see the joy that was set before 
Him; therefore "they were exceeding sorry." 
(Vs. 22, 23.) 

"For Me and Thee" 

The chapter closes with a beautiful story con- 
cerning the half-shekel for the Temple tax. The 
collectors came to Peter asking, "Doth not your 
Teacher pay the half-shekel?" Peter, know- 
ing that his Teacher was the Lord of the Tem- 
ple, and yet remembering that Teacher's pre- 
vious custom, answered, "Yea." Then, return- 
ing to the house, he finds that his Lord already 
knows all about it. He needed not to be told. 
"Jesus spake first to him, saying, What thinkest 
thou, Simon? the Kings of the earth, from whom 
do they receive toll or tribute? from their sons, 
or from strangers? And when he said, From 
strangers, Jesus said unto him, Therefore the 
sons are free." He needed not to pay a tax for 
the support of the Temple, for the Temple was 
His Father's house. And Peter, too, now that 
he had been born again, was a son of that same 
Father, and therefore Jesus counted him with 
Himself, saying, "The sons are free. But, lest 
we cause them to stumble, go thou to the sea, 
and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first 
cometh up; and when thou hast opened his 
mouth, thou shalt find a shekel; that take, and 
give unto them, for Me and thee." (Vs. 24- 
27.) 

"For Me and thee!" What gracious words 



"FOR ME AND THEE." 223 

are these— " for Me and thee!" The Lord of 
Life and Glory, the God of Heaven and Earth, 
comes down from His glorious dwelling on high 
and becomes a poor Jew — and then, having 
brought another poor Jew to a saving knowledge 
of Himself, he begins to bear his burdens, even 
performing a marvelous miracle to pay the Tem- 
ple tax — "for Me and thee !" 

Is it any wonder that Peter afterward wrote 
exhorting us to cast all our care on Him for He 
careth for us? (1 Peter 5:7.) Only trust Him 
and He will supply your need according to His 
glorious riches. "In nothing be anxious, but in 
everything by prayer and supplication with 
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known 
unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth 
all understanding, shall guard your hearts and 
your thoughts in Christ Jesus." 



GREATNESS IN THE KINGDOM 



Chapter 18 



The grace of God often seems to be wasted. It 
is like falling suddenly from heaven to earth, to 
come from the closing words of the seventeenth 
chapter of Matthew to the opening words of the 
eighteenth. In the former passage the Lord 
Jesus has shown us something of the beautiful 
identification of Himself with His disciples; and 
as we turn to the latter passage, we find the dis- 
ciples occupied with things purely, utterly sel- 
fish. 

In the seventeenth chapter the Lord Jesus 
led three of His followers up into a moun- 
tain, and there they beheld His glory, as He was 
manifested in the picture of the coming King- 
dom. On His way down the mountain He said 
to them, "Tell the vision to no man until the 
Son of Man be risen from the dead." But be- 
fore going up the mountain He had been heard 
to say, "There be some of them that stand here, 
which shall in no wise taste of death, till they 
shall see the Son of Man coming in His King- 
dom." Therefore the thoughts of the disciples 
were occupied with the Kingdom. And if there 
was to be a Kingdom, then, they reasoned, there 
ought to be good positions in that Kingdom for 
them. It is characteristic of the natural mind 
to think only of itself and its own selfish ends. 

224 



GREATNESS IN THE KINGDOM. 225 

It is gratifying to notice that Peter, ordinarily 
the spokesman of the disciples, is not named in 
connection with this dispute. Peter had been born 
again and his experience had been wonderful. 
Only just now, his Lord had worked a mighty 
wonder to produce a shekel for the Temple-tax, 
saying, "take, and give unto them for Me and 
thee." Thus Peter, at least for the time being, 
was preserved from the unseemly dispute as 
to who should be great in the Kingdom. But it 
was just then — "in that hour" — that the disciples 
came unto Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest 
in the Kingdom of Heaven?" (V. 1.) 

For answer, the Lord Jesus called to Him a 
little child, and set him in the midst of them, and 
said, "Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and 
become as little children, ye shall in no wise 
enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." (Vs. 2, 
3.) It was not yet a question of greatness in 
the Kingdom: it was rather a question of enter- 
ing in. Some of these very disciples were in 
danger of failing to get into the Kingdom at all. 

It is plain that the Kingdom in manifestation 
is in view here. In the Kingdom in mystery 
form, its present phase, there is a mixture of 
true and false, good and bad, wheat and tares, 
but when the King shall come back to set up 
David's throne and reign, then there will be a 
sifting and only the wheat shall be garnered into 
the Kingdom ; the tares will be burned. 

Regeneration is suggested by our Lord's 
w r ords, for in no other way can a man become 



226 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

like a little child. The argument is the same as in 
the interview with Nicodemus. 

"Whosoever therefore shall humble himself 
as this little child, the same is the greatest in 
the Kingdom of Heaven/' (V. 4.) 

That regeneration is not merely a figure of 
speech in our Lord's mind is shown by His 
words in verses 5 and 6, where He is speaking 
of those who are born again. They are actually 
little children in His sight, and they are to Him 
as the apple of His eye: "And whoso shall re- 
ceive one such little child in My name receiveth 
Me; but whoso shall cause one of these 
little ones which believe on Me to stum- 
ble, it is profitable for him that a great 
millstone should be hanged about his neck, 
and that he should be sunk in the depth of the 
sea." There will be a long score for some peo- 
ple to answer for in the great Day. For though 
it pleases God to use the sufferings of this pres- 
ent time for the perfection of His little ones, 
yet there is woe for the man who causes these 
sufferings. "Woe unto the world because of oc- 
casions of stumbling! for it must needs be that 
the occasions come ; but woe to that man through 
whom the occasion cometh!" (V. 7.) 

Entrance Into Life 

The disciples are warned that nothing is to 
be cherished that may hinder their entrance into 
life and whatever suffering they may be called 
upon to endure is not worthy to be compared 



THE CHILDREN. 227 

with the glory of the Kingdom. "If thy hand or 
thy foot causeth thee to stumble, cut it off, and 
cast it from thee : it is good for thee to enter into 
life maimed or halt, rather than having two 
hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire. 
And if thine eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck 
it out, and cast it from thee : it is good for thee 
to enter into life with one eye, rather than hav- 
ing two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire." 
(Vs. 8, 9.) 

The Children 

Then follows some precious teaching about 
little children, and their position in God's great 
redemptive program. The Lord Jesus had been 
using the little child before Him as a figure of 
the new-born babe by regeneration. Now speak- 
ing of the little child itself, He says, "See that 
ye despise not one of these little ones ; for I say 
unto you, that in heaven their angels do always 
behold the face of My Father Who is in heaven. 
For the Son of Man came to save that which 
was lost." (Vs. 10, 11.) 

I am aware that the words of the eleventh 
verse — "for the Son of Man came to save that 
which was lost" — are omitted from the Revised 
Version, but there is considerable textual author- 
ity for them and they seem very fitting here. It 
is significant that the Lord Jesus here omits the 
word "seek" which He used in connection with 
the salvation of Zacchseus in Luke 19: 10. He 
came indeed to save the little children, and they 



228 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

were lost but for His coming, but He did not 
need to seek them, for they had not gone astray. 

The word angels in this passage has puzzled 
many readers, and has had many interpretations. 
It seems certain that our Lord is not here speak- 
ing of "guardian angels" but rather of the spir- 
its of the little children who have passed out of 
this life. The word "angel" is used in this sense 
in Acts 12: 15, where Peter, after his miraculous 
deliverance from prison, made his appearance at 
the house of John Mark's mother. When the 
maid, Rhoda, reported his presence at the gate, 
they said unto her, "Thou art mad!" But she 
confidently affirmed that it was even so. And 
they said, "It is his angel!" But Peter con- 
tinued knocking; and when they had opened, 
they saw him, and were amazed. 

We are not to suppose from this that all the 
angels of heaven are redeemed human beings. 
The testimony of the Scriptures is perfectly clear 
that the angels are an entirely separate order of 
creatures. But in the passage before us the word 
"angels" is used to signify the spirits of little 
children who have gone from earth — they are in 
heaven, where they always behold the face of 
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

To understand how the children of sinful men 
and women are included in the redemption of 
the Cross, it is necessary to see the general char- 
acter and scope of that redemption. Jesus bled 
and died not only for believers. He also died 
for unbelievers. He died as the Lamb of God, 



THE CHILDREN. 229 

Which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 
1 : 29.) He is the propitiation for our sins, and 
not for ours only, but also for the sins of the 
whole world. (1 John 2:2.) The fullness of 
God's purpose concerning Him is set forth in 1 
John 4: 14 — "We have seen and do testify that 
the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of 
the world." And in 2 Cor. 5 : 19 it is written 
that God was in Christ, reconciling the world 
unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto 
them. 

That is to say, all the sins of all the world, 
from the beginning of the world unto the end 
of time — all our sins were laid on Jesus, and He 
bore them away on the Cross. Therefore, the 
world is no longer condemned by sin. Jesus 
tasted death for every man. (Heb. 2:9.) Men 
are lost, not because they are sinners, but because 
they spurn the gift of salvation. This is the 
only thing that can condemn any man. "God 
sent not His Son into the world to condemn the 
world, but that the world through Him might be 
saved. He that believeth is not condemned: he 
that believeth not is condemned already, because 
he hath not believed in the name of the only be- 
gotten Son of God. And this is the condemna- 
tion, that light is come into the world, and 
men loved darkness rather than light, because 
their deeds were evil." Thus men are lost not 
because they are sinners, but because they will 
not have the Saviour, Who died for them, the 
Just for the unjust, that He might bring them to 



2 3 o SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

God. Nevertheless, He is the Saviour of all 
men, specially of those that believe, (i Tim. 
4:10.) 

The little children are saved because they were 
included in the race for which Jesus died, and 
they have not forfeited their salvation by unbe- 
lief. Therefore, when they depart from earth 
before the age of responsibility, they go at once 
into God's presence, always to dwell with Him 
and behold His face. They are His peculiar 
treasure, loaned for a little time to the earth, 
but caught away before they could be defiled 
by the blighting sin of unbelief. 

"Saviour, for the little one 

Safely gathered in thine arms, 
Ere the battle had begun, 

Victor, spared from war's alarms, 
We who toil and struggle sing 

Praise to Thee, the children's King. 

"First of all Thy martyr-band, 

Infants for Thy sake were slain; 

Day by day, from every land, 
Infants swell the guileless train, 

Who, this vale of tears untrod, 
Stand before the throne of God. 

"Thou dost give, and take away; 

Full of love, in all Thy ways; 
Be each mourner's heart to-day 

Full of loving trust and praise, 
In the midst of grief to bring 

Thanks to Thee, the children's King." 

"How think ye? if any man have a hundred 



"IF THY BROTHER SIN AGAINST THEE." 231 

sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he 
not leave the ninety and nine, and go into the 
mountains, and seek that which goeth astray? 
And if so be that he finds it, verily I say unto 
you he rejoiceth over it more than over the nine- 
ty and nine which have not gone astray. Even 
so it is not the will of your Father which is in 
heaven, that one of these little ones should per- 
ish/' (Vs. 12-14.) Thus does the Great Shep- 
herd of the sheep show His tender love for the 
little lambs of the flock. 

"If Thy Brother Sin Against Thee" 

The second mention of the Church in Mat- 
thew is contained in the next paragraph (vs. 
15-20.) Here are given the most explicit di- 
rections as to how to deal with a sinning brother. 
"If thy brother sin against thee, go, show him 
his fault between thee and him alone; and if he 
hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." (V. 
15.) This is to be the object of the visit — to 
gain thy brother. Not to punish him; not to 
stand upon thy dignity and gain thy rights, but 
to gain thy brother. This is the first step. Go 
not about airing thy grievance and exposing thy 
brother's failure, but go, show him his fault 
between thee and him alone. 

"But if he hear thee not, take with thee one 
or two more, that at the mouth of two witnesses 
or three every word may be established." (V. 
16.) Here again, we need to tread carefully. 
In Galatians 6:1 it is written, "Brethren, even 



232 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

if a man be overtaken in any trespass, ye who are 
spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of gen- 
tlenesss ; looking to thyself, lest thou also be 
tempted." It is unpleasant work, but often very 
blessed. It is lowly labor — washing the disciples' 
feet, cleansing their walk from the defilement of 
the way — but it is fellowship with Jesus, and 
that is precious. This second step, if taken in 
the proper spirit, the spirit of gentleness, will 
usually result in the restoration of the offending 
brother. But if not — "if he refuse to hear them, 
tell it unto the Church: and if he refuse to hear 
the Church also, let him be unto thee as the Gen- 
tile and the Publican." (V. 17.) 

This offender, let us observe, is a Christian, 
a "brother." And yet the Church is here com- 
manded to exclude him from its fellowship so 
long as he refuses to purge himself of his of- 
fense. That the action of the Church, when 
taken in accordance with the Word of God, is 
fully authorized, may be seen from verse 18: 
"Verily I say unto you, what things soever ye 
shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; 
and what things soever ye shall loose on earth 
shall be loosed in heaven." In other words, the 
Church acts with the full sanction of heaven in 
dealing thus with an unrepentant brother. 

What then? Does he lose his salvation? Does 
he cease to be a Christian? Indeed, no; there is 
no possibility of that, for the Lord's promise for 
His sheep is that they shall never perish. But 
the sinning brother is out of communion, and 



"IF THY BROTHER SIN AGAINST THEE/' 233 

the Church is spared the shame of fellowship 
with his sin. It is not that the Church is to give 
him up now and let him go, with no further ef- 
fort to restore him. Though he be as a Gentile 
and a Publican — that is, as an outsider — yet there 
should be unceasing prayer and untiring labor 
for him. In 1 Cor. 5 : 5, there is a case in point. 
In that case the man was delivered unto Satan 
for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit 
might be saved in the Day of the Lord Jesus. 
In 2 Cor. 2 the brother is seen as repentant, 
and restored by the Church, and comforted. 

Church discipline is almost a lost art in our 
day, and the fear is often expressed that to 
fully obey the directions given by our Lord would 
be to depopulate the Churches and seriously de- 
plete the numbers in their fellowship. Exactly 
so ; and it may be that it is for this depopulation 
and depletion that the Spirit of the Lord is wait- 
ing. "Behold, Jehovah's hand is not shortened, 
that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that 
it cannot hear ; but our iniquities have separated 
between us and our God, and our sins have hid 
His face from us, so that He will not hear." 
(Isa. 59: 1, 2.) We are too big, and yet we lust 
after numbers. As in the case of Gideon's dress- 
parade army, "the people are too many." The 
promise of prevailing prayer is not given to the 
crowd, but to the little flock. "Again I say unto 
you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as 
touching anything that they shall ask, it shall 
be done for them by My Father Who is in heav- 



234 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

en. For where two or three are gathered to- 
gether in My name, there am I in the midst of 
them." (Vs. 19, 20.) 

"Seventy Times Seven" 

The subject of the Kingdom is again intro- 
duced by Peter in verse 21 : "Lord, how oft 
shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive 
him ? until seven times ?" Peter had never heard 
Paul's Gospel, and the Church was yet something 
in the future. He was on Jewish ground the 
moment he talked of limited forgiveness for a 
brother. The Rabbis decreed that a trespassing 
brother should be forgiven three times: Peter 
probably thought himself very magnanimous 
when he suggested seven times. The answer of 
Jesus was, "I say not unto thee, Until seven 
times; but, Until seventy times seven." And 
then He proceeds with a parable of the King- 
dom — the so-called parable of the unmerciful 
servant. The teaching of the parable is that 
God has forgiven all men, and their debt was 
enormous. All we like sheep have gone astray, 
and Jehovah has laid on Him the iniquity of us 
all. It follows, therefore, that men ought to for- 
give each other. Of course, this is impossible 
to the natural man, but that very fact and the 
knowledge of it was God's purpose in giving the 
Law — for by the Law is the knowledge of sin. 

It may be noticed that in making the applica- 
tion of the parable, our Lord here used the plural 
pronoun, thus addressing all His disciples, and 



"SEVENTY TIMES SEVEN/' 235 

not Peter individually as in chapter 16. "So 
shall also My heavenly Father do unto you, if 
ye forgive not every man his brother from your 
hearts." (V. 35.) It is the same principle as in 
the so-called Lord's prayer, in chapter 6. It 
is the Law of the Kingdom. In His instruction 
concerning the Church there was no question as 
to a believer forgiving his brother ; that is taken 
for granted; but the question was of gaining 
the brother. In the Church God's forgiveness 
waits not on ours, for in Christ we have redemp- 
tion through His blood, even the forgiveness of 
sins according to the riches of His grace (Eph. 
1:7) and w r e are exhorted to be kind, tender- 
hearted, forgiving one another, not in order that 
God may afterwards forgive us, but even as God 
for Christ's sake hath forgiven us. May God 
make all this real to us ! May our love toward 
our fellow-believers be without dissimulation ! 
Abhorring that which is evil, and cleaving to that 
which is good, may we be kindly affectioned one 
tQ another with brotherly love, in honor prefer- 
ring one another ! 



THE KING'S TEACHING 



Chapter 19 



The teaching of our Lord Jesus concerning the 
marriage relation occupies the greater part of 
the nineteenth chapter of our book. In the first 
two verses the journey from Galilee into Judea 
is passed over with brief mention. Great multi- 
tudes were following the Messiah wherever He 
went, "and He healed them there." (V. 2.) His 
enemies were awaiting Him in Judea, and there 
came unto Him Pharisees, tempting Him, and 
saying, "Is it lawful for a man to put away his 
wife for every cause?" (V. 3.) 

This had ever been a burning question among 
the Jews, and just at that particular time their 
leaders were sharply divided into two groups, 
one school insisting upon the husband's right 
to divorce his wife whenever he might be 
pleased to do so; and the other adhering to a 
stricter interpretation of the Law of Moses on 
the subject. It goes without saying that these 
Pharisees did not question Jesus in order to ob- 
tain authoritative information on the issue under 
discussion, but they were, as ever, seeking to lead 
Him into a trap — they were "tempting Him." 

"And He answered and said, Have ye not read, 
that He which made them from the beginning 
236 



THE KING'S TEACHING. 237 

made them male and female, and said, For this 
cause shall a man leave his father and mother, 
and shall cleave to his wife, and the twain shall 
become one flesh? So that they are no more 
twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath 
joined together, let not man put asunder." 
(Vs. 4-6.) 

This does not satisfy these inquisitors, and 
they appeal to Moses. They say, "Why then did 
Moses command to give a bill of divorcement, 
and to put her away?" (V. 7.) Now, as a mat- 
ter of fact, Moses did not command such a 
thing. He permitted it, in order to suppress a 
flagrant evil. (Compare Deut. 24:1-4.) This 
is pointed out in the Lord Jesus' reply. "He 
saith unto them, Moses for your hardness of 
heart suffered you to put away your wives : but 
from the beginning it hath not been so. And I 
say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his 
wife, except for fornication, and shall marry 
another, committeth adultery: and he that mar- 
rieth her when she is put away committeth adul- 
tery." (Vs. 8, 9.) 

This is very strong teaching in view of the 
prevalent laxness regarding the marriage tie, and 
the disciples say unto Him, "If the case of the 
man is so with his wife, it is not expedient to 
marry." But He said unto them, "All men can- 
not receive this saying, but they to whom it is 
given. For there are eunuchs, which were so 
born from their mother's womb: and there are 
eunuchs, which were made eunuchs by men : 



238 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

and there are eunuchs, which made themselves 
eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. He 
that is able to receive it, let him receive it." (Vs. 
10-12.) This passage has given rise to much 
controversy, and it is not free from difficulty. It 
is plain, however, that under its provisions every- 
one is to be left entirely free, as to whether to 
enter into the marriage relation or not. Celi- 
bacy, if it be voluntary, is permitted; but there 
is to be no enforced celibacy. The question 
must be decided by each individual for himself 
or herself. 

Next to salvation or damnation, marriage is 
either the greatest blessing or the greatest curse 
that can come into human life. To say, as the 
disciples did in our chapter, that it is better not 
to marry, is to contradict the principle laid down 
at the beginning, when God said, "It is not good 
that the man should be alone." But it is far 
better not to marry than to marry in a manner 
contrary to the will and Word of God. In such 
a case indeed, he that is married, instead of 
caring for the things that belong to the Lord, 
how He may please the Lord, may be caring 
more for the things of the world how he may 
please his wife. And in such a case "there is a 
difference also between the wife and the virgin. 
She that is unmarried is careful for the things 
of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body 
and in spirit: but she that is married is careful 
for the things of the world, how she may please 
her husband." (i Cor. 7:32-34.) But when 



THE KING'S TEACHING. 239 

marriage is according to the revealed will of 
God, when it is entered into in the full realiza- 
tion of the sanction and blessing of the Lord, 
then is God pleased to make of it a mighty bless- 
ing. 

Intermarriage with the heathen was Israel's 
curse, and intermarriage with the heathen is the 
Church's curse. A Christian who marries an 
unbeliever, thereby disobeys God, either deliber- 
ately or ignorantly. The Scriptures are perfect- 
ly explicit : "Be ye not unequally yoked together 
with unbelievers/' (2 Cor. 6: 14.) There is no 
choice about it ; the only question is whether the 
child of God shall obey God or follow his or her 
own selfish impulse. In other words, whether 
to walk according to the Spirit or according to 
the flesh. 

It is true that very often the unequal yoke has 
been put on in ignorance of God's command 
against it. And in some cases the yoke has be- 
come unequal because of the conversion of the 
husband or wife after the marriage. Such in- 
stances would seem to be covered by the Apos- 
tle's directions in 1 Cor. 7:12-17: "If any 
brother hath an unbelieving wife, and she is con- 
tent to dwell with him, let him not leave her. 
And the woman which hath an unbelieving hus- 
band, and he is content to dwell with her, let 
her not leave her husband. For the unbelieving 
husband is sanctified in the wife, and the un- 
believing wife is sanctified in the brother: else 
were your children unclean; but now are they 



240 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

holy. Yet if the unbelieving departeth, let him 
depart: the brother or the sister is not under 
bondage in such cases: but God hath called us 
in peace. For how knowest thou, O wife, wheth- 
er thou shalt save thy husband ? or how knowest 
thou, O husband, whether thou shalt save thy 
wife? Only as the Lord hath distributed to each 
man, as God hath called each, so let him walk. 
And so ordain I in all the Churches/' 

That is one thing. The situation is deplor- 
able even in such a case. But it is quite another 
thing to deliberately and defiantly put the neck 
into the unequal yoke, in spite of God's known 
command against it. There can be little hope of 
happiness or fruitfulness in the Christian walk 
after that. 

A young woman came to her pastor and said, 
"Pastor, will you pray for me?" 

"Gladly," replied the preacher. "What is the 
particular thing you desire me to pray about?" 

"Well, I expect to be married soon, and I want 
you to pray about that." 

"Is your intended husband a Christian?" 

"No, sir; he has never confessed the Lord 
Jesus." 

"Then, in that case, I must withdraw my prom- 
ise to pray for you." 

"What? Do you mean that you will not pray 
for me?" 

"Exactly that. For I cannot pray for God's 
blessing upon an act of sinful disobedience." 

"I did not know you could be so unkind." 



THE KING'S TEACHING. 241 

"My dear sister, I am kind in my unkindness. 
Do you think I ought to advise you to disobey 
God?" 

"No, but I hoped my husband would become 
a Christian after we were married." 

"Well, he probably would not. It is much 
more likely that he would drag you down to- 
wards his level And, besides, God never told 
you to marry a man in order to convert him. 
His word to you is 'Be ye not unequally yoked 
together with an unbeliever.' " 

And the testimony of that pastor is that the 
young woman decided then and there to obey 
God, be the cost what it might. Would to God 
that there were more such faithful shepherding 
in God's little flock! It might then be that the 
flock would not be so scattered as it is to-day, 
so entangled in the thickets of the world that it 
seems well nigh impossible to extricate it. 

The pastor is in a place of peculiar responsibility 
in this matter, for he is usually called upon to 
officiate at the marriage. It is difficult to see 
the consistency of the pastor's act in "perform- 
ing the ceremony," where one of the parties to 
the marriage is a believer and the other an un- 
believer. If it be wrong for the believer to 
put on the unequal yoke, it must inevitably fol- 
low that it is also wrong for the pastor to help 
him put it on. 

As for divorce, the New Testament seems to 
sanction the separation of husband and wife 
under certain circumstances, though without the 



242 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

privilege of remarriage for either party while 
the other is living. Moses' provision in Deuter- 
onomy 24 does not obtain in this Dispensation, 
and now we have returned to first principles — 
"What God hath joined together, let not man 
put asunder." The whole matter may be summed 
up in our Lord's words in Mark 10:11, 12: 
"Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry 
another, committeth adultery against her; and if 
she herself shall put away her husband, and 
marry another, she committeth adultery." 

"Suffer the Little Children" 

It is fitting that the little children should be 
brought into the picture just here, while the 
home and family relationships are in view. 
"Then were there brought unto Him little chil- 
dren, that He should lay His hands on them, 
and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But 
Jesus said, Suffer the little children, and forbid 
them not, to come unto me; for of such is the 
Kingdom of Heaven. And He laid His hands 
on them, and departed thence." (Vs. 13-15.) 
This beautiful passage has been made to do 
duty as an argument for infant baptism. Of 
course there is not even the remotest suggestion 
of such a thing in the passage; nor, indeed, is 
there any such suggestion in the whole Bible. The 
position of little children in God's sight was 
fully discussed in our study of the eighteenth 
chapter. n : ^P] 



THE RICH YOUNG RULER. 243 

The Rich Young Ruler 

In verses 16 to 2j there is the story of the 
rich young man — Luke calls him a ruler — who 
came to Jesus and said: "Good Master, what 
good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal 
life?" (V. 16.) This young man is on the 
ground of the Law ; he is seeking life by doing. 
The divine Teacher met him on his own ground, 
in order to use the Law as a schoolmaster to 
bring this man to Himself, that he might be 
justified, not by works, but by faith. "Why 
callest thou Me good? There is none good but 
One, that is, God." If Jesus was not divine — 
if He was not God in the flesh — then He was 
not good. In the absolute sense, only God is 
good. "But if thou wilt enter into life, keep 
the commandments." (V. 17.) 

We do well to follow closely here, lest we err 
in supposing that Jesus is really teaching salva- 
tion by works of the Law. Rather, He is seek- 
ing to show, by means of the Law, how helpless 
the young man is to obtain life that way. By 
the Law shall no flesh be justified, but by the 
Law is the knowledge of sin. Therefore He 
said, "keep the commandments." 

"He saith unto Him, Which? And Jesus 
said, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit 
adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not 
bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy 
mother; and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
thyself, The young man saith unto Him, All 



244 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

these things have I observed; what lack I yet?" 
(Vs. 18-20.) 

It is plain that this young ruler in Israel is 
deceived concerning his own condition. Here he 
is actually claiming to have fulfilled the whole 
Law, at least in the second table of it. All his 
lifelong, according to his own view of it, he 
had loved his neighbor as himself ! He must 
be awakened out of his self-satisfaction, and 
shown that he at this moment loves himself 
much better than his neighbor. Therefore Jesus 
says unto him, "If thou wouldest be perfect, go, 
sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and 
thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, 
follow me. But when the young man heard the 
saying, he went away sorrowful ; for he was one 
that had great possessions." (Vs. 21, 22.) 

There is a tradition that this young man was 
Lazarus, of Bethany, who afterward became 
a devoted disciple and whom Jesus brought back 
from the grave. We may not know as to the 
truth of the story, but it is surely to be hoped 
that the Law of Works did its work perfectly 
as a ministration of condemnation and death, 
and then led him back to Jesus, through Whom 
alone he could enter into life, and obtain the 
gift of righteousness which is by faith. 

The Danger of Riches 

The chapter closes with a warning against 
trusting in riches. "It is hard for a rich man 
to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. * * * * 






THE DANGER OF RICHES. 245 

It is easier for a camel to go through a needle's 
eye, than for a rich man to enter into the King- 
dom of God. * * * With men this is impossible, 
but with God all things are possible." (Vs. 
23-26.) 

There is nothing the men of this world so 
much want as money; and there is nothing that 
so hinders them from the knowledge and love 
of God. It is an error to look upon godliness 
as a way of gain. But, as it is written, "god- 
liness with contentment is great gain; for we 
brought nothing into the world, for neither can 
we carry anything out ; but having food and cov- 
ering we shall be therewith content. But they 
that desire to be rich fall into a temptation and a 
snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such 
as drown men in destruction and perdition. 
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of 
evil; which some reaching after have been led 
astray from the faith, and have pierced them- 
selves through with many sorrorw r s. * * * 
Charge them that are rich in this present world, 
that they be not highminded, nor have their hope 
set on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, 
who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that 
they do good, that they be rich in good works, 
that they be ready to distribute, willing to com- 
municate; laying up in store for themselves a 
good foundation against the time to come, that 
they may lay hold on the life which is life in- 
deed." (1 Tim. 6: 5-19.) 

That godliness is profitable unto all things, 



246 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

having promise of the life that now is, as well 
as of that which is to come, is shown by our 
Lord's reply to Peter's question — "Lo, we have 
left all, and followed Thee; what then shall we 
have?" (V. 27.) And Jesus said unto them, 
"Verily I say unto you, that ye which have fol- 
lowed me, in the Regeneration, when the Son 
of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, 
ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging 
the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that 
hath left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or 
father, or mother, or children, or lands, for My 
name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and 
shall inherit eternal life. But many shall be 
last that are first ; and first that are last." (Vs. 
28-30.) 

"What then shall we have?" This question 
of Peter's reveals his own state of heart. He 
had not yet received the fullness of the Spirit 
and he finds it easy to walk in the flesh. Let 
us not be occupied with ourselves and our own 
selfish desires. Let the question of our hearts 
be not "What then shall we have?" but rather 
"What then shall He have?" He Who forsook 
all for us, He Who loved us and gave Himself 
for us, He Who gave Himself for us an offer- 
ing and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling 
savour, He Who loveth us and hath loosed us 
from our sins in His Own blood and hath made 
Kings and Priests unto God and His Father — 
"What then shall He have ?'" It matters' little 
what we have, for we have Him, and He is 









THE DANGER OF RICHES. 247 

our satisfying portion; but unto Him be bless- 
ing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and 
honor and power and might, for He is our God 
for ever and ever. Amen. ,, 

Peter's question brought forth a solemn warn- 
ing from the King's lips, which is given in the 
next chapter. 



THE KING'S WARNING 



Chapter 20 



The division of the Bible into chapters is un- 
doubtedly a very great convenience, but the read- 
er frequently finds himself wishing there might 
have been more inspiration in the manner in 
which the divisions were made. The chapter 
division at the point we have now reached in our 
book is especially awkward, for it breaks in at 
the middle of a paragraph and tends to obscure 
the vital connection between the two parts of 
the story. 

The parable of the vineyard laborers, in the 
first sixteen verses of chapter 20 can only be 
understood in conection with what precedes it, 
in chapter 19, verses 23-30. The rich young 
ruler had gone away sorrowful, for he had been 
suddenly awakened to see his real condition of 
sin and selfishness. Jesus then turned to His 
disciples with the words, "Verily I say unto you, 
It is hard for a rich man to enter into the King- 
dom of Heaven. And again I say unto you, 
It is easier for a camel to go through a needle's 
eye than for a rich man to enter into the King- 
dom of God." The disciples were amazed at 
this, for they were like other men and looked 
upon riches as something altogether desirable. 
Who, then, could be saved? If it were hard 

248 






THE KING'S WARNING. 249 

for a rich man, surely no one else would have 
any prospect of salvation whatever. And Jesus, 
looking upon them said, "With men it is impos- 
sible but with God all things are possible." 

Then Peter spoke up. If riches were a hin- 
drance, then poverty must be an advantage. So 
he said, "We have left all and followed Thee" 
— exactly what the rich young man had been told 
to do— "What then shall we have?" The Lord 
Jesus in His answer first assured them that every 
sacrifice and every service w r ould be fully re- 
membered and rewarded, and then He sounded 
a warning. "Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, 
judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Every one 
that hath left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or 
father, or mother, or children, or lands for My 
name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and 
shall inherit eternal life." The Judge of all the 
earth may be trusted to do right. "But" — and 
here somes the warning: 

"But many shall be last that are first and first 
that are last. For the Kingdom of Heaven is 
like unto a man that is a householder, which 
went out early in the morning to hire labourers 
into his vineyard. And when he had agreed 
with the labourers for a denarius a day, he sent 
them into his vineyard. And he went out about 
the third hour and saw others standing in the 
marketplace idle ; and to them he said, Go ye 
also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right 
I will give you. And they went their way. 
Again he went out about the sixth and ninth 



25o SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

hour and did likewise. And about the eleventh 
hour he went out, and found others standing 
and he saith unto them, Why stand ye here all 
the day idle? They say unto him, Because no 
man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye 
also into the vineyard. And when even was 
come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his 
steward, Call the labourers, and pay them their 
hire, beginning from the last unto the first. 
And when they came that were hired about the 
eleventh hour, they received every man a 
denarius. And when the first came, they sup- 
posed that they would receive more, and they 
likewise received every man a denarius. And 
when they received it, they murmured against 
the householder, saying, These last have spent 
but one hour, and thou has made them equal 
unto us which have borne the burden of the day 
and the scorching heat! But he answered and 
said to one of them, Friend, I do thee no wrong; 
didst not thou agree with me for a denarius? 
Take up that which is thine, and go thy way; 
it is my will to give unto this last, even as unto 
thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will 
with mine own? or is thine eye evil, because I 
am good? So the last shall be first and the 
first last." (Ch. 19:23-20:16.) 

I have substituted the original Greek name 
for the coin referred to in this parable, because 
the word "penny" gives the whole narrative a 
ridiculous sound to our ears. And indeed it is 
not a very great improvement to use the word 



THE KING'S WARNING. 251 

"shilling" as has been done in the American 
Standard edition of the Revised Version. A 
penny, or a shilling, would not be a fair day's 
wages, but the denarius was an unusually lib- 
eral day's pay for laborers. 

The denarius or penny in this story does not 
represent the salvation which is received by all 
believers alike, for salvation is not earned by 
works, but by grace are we saved through faith ; 
and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God: 
not of works, lest any many should boast. 
(Eph. 2: 8, 9.) The wages of sin is death; but 
the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. (Rom. 6:23.) 

Nor yet are we to learn from our Lord's 
parable that all rewards at the judgment seat 
of Christ are to be equally divided among be- 
lievers. Such interpretation would flatly con- 
tradict the testimony of the Scriptures, which 
plainly teach that there will be degrees of re- 
ward for service. "For other foundation can 
no man lay than that which is laid, which is 
Jesus Christ. But if any many buildeth on the 
foundation, gold, silver, costly stones, wood, 
hay, stubble; each man's work shall be made 
manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it 
is revealed in fire : and the fire itself shall prove 
each man's work, of what sort it is. If any 
man's work shall abide which he built thereon, 
he shall receive a reward. If any man's work 
shall be burned, he shall suffer loss ; but he him- 
self shall be saved; yet so as through fire." 



252 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

(i Cor. 3: 11-15.) And again, "Behold I come 
quickly, and my reward is with Me, to give 
every man according as his work shall be." 
(Rev. 22: 12.) 

The key to the interpretation of the parable is 
very carefully placed by our Lord. Indeed 
there are duplicate keys, for one lies just at the 
beginning of the parable and another just at the 
end of it. In the first place we read, "But many 
shall be last that are first, and first that are 
last." In the second instance our Lord is say- 
ing, "So the last shall be first, and the first 
last." 

The teaching of the parable must be sought in 
connection with Peter's question and the warn- 
ing words uttered by the Lord Jesus in reply. 
"What then shall we have?" was the question 
in Peter's mind and on Peter's lips. Our Lord 
answered the question graciously, but the ques- 
tion was wrong; it was selfish; it savored not 
of the things that be of God, but the things that 
be of the world. "What shall we have?" It 
is the grasping cry of the natural man every- 
where. The Lord's servants may trust Him to 
see to it that they shall have all and much more 
than all that is due to them. But many shall be 
last that are first, and first that are last. These 
Apostles were the first to be called into the 
Lord's service in the new Kingdom; they must 
have a care, lest they should fall behind those 
who should be called later. Peter himself was 
the very first soul born again under the personal 



THE KING'S WARNING. 253 

teaching of the Lord Jesus : he must watch zeal- 
ously lest in the time of reckoning he should be 
last instead of first. For many — not all, but 
many — that were first should be last, and many 
that were last should be first. 

We are not bound to suppose that when we 
who are the Lord's servants appear before the 
Bema, or judgment-seat of Christ, to receive 
the things done in the body, there will actually 
be such a scene as our Lord depicts in this para- 
ble. Those called into the vineyard early in the 
day will not appear there in a sour and envious 
spirit toward their fellow-servants who were 
called at the eleventh hour. The type is con- 
trasting rather than parallel all through the 
parable. The unseemly wrangle is just an ex- 
hibition of what might be expected of the men of 
this world under the supposed circumstances. 
And the precise point of the story lies in the 
fact that Peter was walking in the flesh and 
acting as a natural, worldly man, when he asked 
the question, "What then shall we have?" 

The laborers who were the first to be called 
into service bargained for their wages before be- 
ginning work. The others trusted the house- 
holder to do what was right. The warning of 
the parable is directed against the spirit of bar- 
gaining in the service of God. 

It ought to be remarked that the men whose 
service began late in the day do not represent 
those who accept the Gospel call late in life after 
rejecting it over and over again. These men, 



254 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

when asked why they were not at work in the 
vineyard, answered, "Because no man hath hired 
us." It is a blessed fact that while there is life 
there is hope; that — 

"While the lamp holds out to burn, 
The vilest sinner may return" — 

but this parable at least does not have in view 
the Gospel-hardened sinner who has all his life 
trodden under foot the Son of God. We may 
thank God that even for such, salvation is freely 
offered, but those depicted in our parable are 
they who had never heard the invitation until 
late in the day. When they heard it they were 
ready; they were waiting for it; and their re- 
sponse was prompt, and their brief service faith- 
ful. 

Let us observe, also that the Lord's sovereign- 
ty is insisted upon in the parable. Jehovah is 
good and doeth good, and in whatever He does 
He is supreme and not answerable to any man. 
It is lawful for Him to do what He will with 
His own. Is thine eye evil because He is good? 
Have a care, for though thou mayest now be 
enjoying the highest privileges, there is danger 
of thy falling short of the fullest blessing. So 
the last shall be first, and the first last. 

Very possibly the coin of equal value given to 
each servant in the vineyard may suggest to us 
the comforting thought that when we do finally 
reach the end of our course and are brought be- 
fore our Lord for a review of our poor service, 



THE SECRET OF GREATNESS. 255 

He will find something to commend in each one 
of us. As it is written, "Wherefore judge noth- 
ing before the time, until the Lord come, Who 
will both bring to light the hidden things of 
darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the 
hearts ; and then shall each man have his praise 
from God." (1 Cor. 4:5.) 

The Secret of Greatness 

How very slowly does the idea of real sacri- 
fice and service take hold upon us ! There is 
much talk of consecration and self-denial, but 
how sharp is the contrast between the reality 
and the sham! It is just the difference between 
the power of godliness and the form thereof. 
Notice how this great difference is shown in the 
next section of our chapter: 

"And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, 
He took the twelve disciples apart, and in the 
way He said unto them, Behold, we go up to 
Jerusalem; and the Son of Man shall be de- 
livered unto the Chief Priests and Scribes; and 
they shall condemn Him to death, and shall de- 
liver Him unto the Gentiles to mock, and to 
scourge and to crucify: and the third day He 
shall be raised up." (Vs. 17-19.) 

And it was just then — just as He was setting 
His face like a flint toward Calvary — just as He 
was seeking to lead His disciples into somewhat 
of fellowship with His sufferings — just as He 
was thinking and speaking of the shame, and 



256 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

the abuse, and the thorns, and the mocking, and 
the scourge, and the Cross — 

"Then came to Him the mother of the sons of 
Zebedee with her sons, worshipping Him, and 
asking a certain thing of Him. And He said 
unto her, What wouldest thou? She saith unto 
Him, Command that these my two sons may sit, 
one on Thy right hand, and one on Thy left 
hand, in Thy Kingdom." (Vs. 20, 21.) 

It is enough to make the heart sick, thus to 
behold the selfish scheming for place and ad- 
vantage that was going on in the very approach 
to the Way of Sorrrows. And yet this wonder- 
ful Man — this adorable Son of God — did not 
lose heart. Behold how graciously and how 
patiently He dealt with these, His foolish little 
children, who saw everything upside down. 

"Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what 
ye ask. Are ye able to drink the cup that I am 
about to drink? They say unto Him, We are 
able. He saith unto them, My cup indeed ye 
shall drink: but to sit on My right hand, and 
on My left hand, is not Mine to give, but it is 
for them for whom it hath been prepared of My 
Father. " (Vs. 22, 23.) 

By this time the rest of the disciples were 
greatly excited. "When the ten heard it, they 
were moved with indignation concerning the two 
brethren. ,, (V. 24.) Doubtless they feared 
that they might lose something for themselves. 
It was all wrong, and their hearts were blind 
and self-centered. "Jesus called them unto Him 



BLIND EYES OPENED. 257 

and said, Ye know that the rulers of the Gen- 
tiles lord it over them, and their great ones ex- 
ercise authority over them. Not so shall it be 
among you: but whosoever would become great 
among you shall be your servant, and whoso- 
ever would be first among you shall be your 
slave : even as the Son of Man came not to be 
served, but to serve, and to give His life a 
ransom for many." (Vs. 25-28.) May God 
Himself enable us to learn this secret of the 
Lord, that the only way to true greatness is the 
way of lowly service, the way of vicarious sac- 
rifice — the way of the Cross. 

Blind Eyes Opened 

Our chapter closes with an account of the 
healing of two blind men at Jericho. An ap- 
parent discrepancy between this account and 
those of Mk. 10 and Lu. 18 has led to some con- 
fusion. The Scofield Reference Bible gives the 
following explanation: "Matthew and Mark 
obviously refer to a work of healing as Jesus 
departed from Jericho. Bartimeus, the active 
one of the two, the one who cried, 'J esus > Thou 
Son of David/ is specifically mentioned by Mark. 
Of the other one of the two we know nothing. 
The healing described by Luke (18:35) oc- 
curred before Jesus entered Jericho. As to the 
form of appeal, 'Son of David' (cf. Matt. 9: 27; 
15:22; 21:9), Jesus must have been so ad- 
dressed constantly. The narratives, therefore, 



258 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

supplement, but in no wise contradict each 
other." 

The restoration of sight to the blind was an 
unknown thing, even among the miracles of the 
Old Testament. It was held by the rabbis that 
this was reserved for the Messiah, and that it 
should be the mark of His authority. It is very 
significant that just here, as the King of Israel 
was about to make a formal and final presentation 
of the Kingdom to the nation, He should perform 
this miracle. Then, too, it was at Jericho, the city 
of the curse. Jericho is ever a type of this 
world; and it was here that Jesus came to be a 
light and blessing. He came a light into the 
world, that whosoever believeth on Him should 
not abide in darkness. (John 12:46.) 

Blindness is a striking figure of the spiritual 
condition of the lost. "If our Gospel is veiled, 
it is veiled in them that are perishing: in whom 
the god of this Age hath blinded the minds 
of the unbelieving, that the light of the Gospel 
of the Glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, 
should not dawn upon them. For we preach 
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and our- 
selves as your servants for Jesus' sake. Seeing 
it is God that said, Light shall shine out of dark- 
ness, Who shined in our hearts, to give the 
light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in 
the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Cor. 4:3-6.) 

These two men were in the way where Jesus 
walked. They heard that Jesus was passing 
by. "Faith cometh by hearing," and they cried 



BLIND EYES OPENED. 259 

out. Though the crowd rebuked them, they 
would not be denied or hindered. They cried 
out the more. 

And Jesus "stood still" — Bless His holy name ! 
He ever stands still when the cry of faith is lift- 
ed to Him. He stood still, and called. He was 
moved with compassion, and He healed them. 
Instantly their eyes were opened : "Straightway 
they received their sight, and followed Him." 
His sheep they were : therefore, they heard His 
voice and He knew them, and they followed 
Him. He was their Shepherd — the Good 
Shepherd — and He was about to lay down His 
life for the sheep. 



THE KING ENTERS HIS CAPITAL 



Chapter 21 



We are now approaching the final scene in the 
greatest tragedy of all the history of the world. 
The wondrous pathos and grandeur of this march 
to Calvary of the King of Kings and Lord of 
Lords is unequaled in all history and in all liter- 
ature. 

To be sure, the march to Calvary was by way 
of Jerusalem; the march to the Cross was by 
way of a certain glory; the march to the place 
where the cry should be heard, "Crucify Him! 
Crucify Him!" was by way of the place where 
the people cried, "Hosanna to the Son of 
David!" But this Man, Christ Jesus, was not 
deceived by that which lay between. Beyond 
Jerusalem He saw Calvary ; beyond the acclama- 
tions of the people He heard their angry excla- 
mations against Him; beyond the throne of 
David, which for the moment seemed to be His, 
He saw the Cross looming up in all its awful 
solemnity on that hill outside the gate. 

There is great need of carefully observing at 
every step of the way, as we follow our Lord, 
how accurately, how exactly the Scriptures are 
fulfilled; and we must remember all the time 
that we are looking upon a King, nay, the King. 
In a sense which is true of none other, this Man 
was and is the King, and His Kingship is in the 

260 



THE KING ENTERS HIS CAPITAL. 261 

forefront in this chapter, as, indeed, it is all 
through the Gospel of Matthew. Mark may 
set Him forth as the humble, obedient Servant, 
toiling with but one purpose, namely, the ful- 
fillment of His Father's will;Luke may reveal 
Him unto us as the Son of Man, the second 
Adam, Who took upon Himself the sins of the 
race; and John may uncover Him to our en- 
raptured gaze as the Son of God, nay, more — 
as the very God of God Himself, Who hath 
taken upon Himself the human form and lived 
among men; but Matthew is concerned always 
with the royalty of the Man Christ Jesus. He 
in none the less a Man, a Servant, God, but He 
is in Matthew emphatically a King — the King, 
Whose right it is to reign, not only over His own 
people, but over the whole world. 

You will notice that at the King's entrance 
into His capital there is the royal edict, "The 
Lord hath need of them;" and there is the 
loyal obedience, "The disciples went, and did as 
Jesus commanded them;" and then there is the 
literal fulfillment of the prophetic Word in 
Zech. : 9:9. Matthew points this out, and de- 
clares that, "All this was done, that it might be 
fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet, say- 
ing, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy 
King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon 
an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass." It 
has been noted that a very important clause of 
the prophecy is omitted in Matthew. In 
Zechariah it reads, "Rejoice greatly, O daugh- 



262 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

ter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: 
behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, 
and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon 
an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." 
Stupid unbelief has pointed out that this is an 
imperfection in the Bible; that Matthew's 
knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures was 
inaccurate, and, therefore, the whole doctrine of 
verbal inspiration is supposed to fall to the 
ground. But the anointed eye sees here — far 
from an evidence of imperfection — one of the 
marvelous proofs of the perfection of the Word 
of God. These words are omitted for the 
reason that when Jesus came into Jerusalem in 
what is called "the triumphal entry" He did not 
come with justification and salvation for Israel. 
He knew perfectly well, and, indeed, the Word 
of God had told it out over and over again, that 
His people would openly, as they had already 
done in reality, reject Him and cast Him out; 
and so there was no salvation for them for the 
moment. The complete fulfillment of that 
prophecy must await the Second Coming of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, when He shall indeed come, 
having justification and salvation in the fullest 
sense. The marginal reading in Zechariah is 
very interesting; it is, "He is just and saving 
Himself." Now Jesus, so far as the action of 
the people was concerned, was not justified; He 
was condemned and set aside by them; and it 
was because, for that time, He refused to save 
Himself that He was able to save others. 



"WHO IS THIS?" 263 

Another Scripture fulfilled here is in the 118th 
Psalm. A study of this Psalm will show how 
perfectly the Spirit of Truth has pictured there- 
in the ride from Bethphage to Jerusalem, as well 
as that which followed. The Hebrew word 
translated "Send now prosperity!" in verse 25, 
is "Hosanna!" as in Matthew. 

It is the essence of realized sonship and com- 
munion with God to be able to say, under all 
circumstances, as Messiah is saying in Psalm 
118, "His mercy endureth for ever," — facing the 
Cross, facing death, or trial of any kind, to be 
able to say, "The Lord is good, and doeth good." 
"No good thing will He withhold from them that 
walk uprightly," "I will bless the Lord 'at all 
times, His praise shall continually be in my 
mouth." 

"Who Is This?" 

There is a great question in verse 10: "Who 
is this?" And in verse 11, the wrong answer 
which came from the multitude — wrong because 
so far short of the truth — "This is Jesus, the 
Prophet of Nazareth of Galilee." Many a man 
is saying this today ; many a Jew is saying, "He 
was a good man, a great Prophet," but he goes 
no further. Who is this? This is God in the 
flesh. "This is our God ; we will trust in Him." 
The fact that He was a Prophet is purely inci- 
dental; He was the Priest, the King, as well as 
the Prophet; He is the Anointed of the Lord, 
Jehovah, Immanuel, God with us! 



264 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 
The King in His Own House 

In verses 12 to 17 is given the act of the King 
in cleansing the Temple. Now this is not the 
same cleansing as in John 2. There it was, 
"My Father's house," and, "The zeal of Thine 
house hath eaten Me up ;" here it is, "My house 
shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have 
made it a den of thieves." There is another im- 
portant difference shown in this quotation from 
Isaiah 56 : 7. You will notice that the words, 
"for all people," are omitted. The word is 
plural here; it should read "peoples," as it does 
in the Revision. Jesus omitted that little clause, 
"for all peoples," because the Temple which He 
was then cleansing was not a house of prayer 
for all peoples. The Millennial Temple, pictured 
by Ezekiel, shall be that, and the nations shall 
come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles 
(Zech. 14) ; but it was true, even then, that 
that Temple was a house of prayer in God's pur- 
pose, and they had made it a den of thieves, 
a house of merchandise. 

Following the cleansing, comes the healing. 
It is ever so; there can be no work of healing 
until there has first been the cleansing. 

His Wonderful Works 

Now the Chief Priests and Scribes were sorely 
displeased when they "saw the wonderful things 
that he did." Formalism can never endure any 
manifestation of real power. These ritualists 



HIS WONDERFUL WORKS. 265 

had no objection to religion, as such, if every- 
thing could be done according to their ritual, but 
when there was an evidence of real power, when 
God began in reality to do things, then the 
formalists were indignant. But Jesus was 
pleased by the same things that displeased them. 
Because the children cried out in the Temple 
in praises to God, the Chief Priests and Scribes 
were greatly shocked and distressed by such dis- 
orderly proceedings, and asked, "Hearest Thou 
what these say?" And in His reply the King 
expresses His pleasure, "Yea : have ye never 
read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings 
thou hast perfected praise ?" He was quoting 
from Psalm 8. Now this Psalm is taken up in 
the second chapter of the Hebrews, and the 
Messianic character of it is there seen; but ^if 
you turn to the Psalm itself, you will notice that 
it reads there, "Out of the mouth of babes and 
sucklings has Thou ordained strength because 
of Thine enemies, that Thou mightest still the 
enemy and the avenger." The Lord Jesus quoted 
from the Septuagint Version. Let us learn from 
this, for the Spirit of God is unfolding His own 
meaning here, that God's way of perfecting 
praise is in and through weak instrumentalities. 
It is ever so; His strength is manifested only 
in our weakness. In any other attitude we only 
hinder Him. 

"And He left them, and went out of the city 
into Bethany; and He lodged there." As there 
was no room for Him in the inn at Bethlehem, 



266 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

so there is none for Him in Jerusalem, though 
both were called the cities of David, and He was 
the Root and Offspring of David. But let us 
bless God that He did find a lodging place; He 
did find a place in which to lay His head, though 
it was "out of the city." 

In verses 18 to 22 is given the King's miracu- 
lous sign of approaching judgment. "Now in 
the morning, as He returned into the city, He 
hungered." Though the city had rejected Him 
and cast Him out, He was ever returning to it. 
He came to do the will of Him that sent Him. 
"And when He saw a fig tree in the way, He 
came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves 
only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee 
henceforward for ever. And immediately the fig 
tree withered away." O, the marvel of it ! Here 
was God, and He was hungry — the King of 
Kings and Lord of Lords, and He was hungry! 
He had taken upon Himself our nature, He was 
"made like unto His brethren," and yet He was 
God in the flesh. The very realm of nature it- 
self obeyed His slightest word. Here was a fig 
tree, green and flourishing in appearance, and 
just at a word from His hungry mouth it with- 
ered and died. This miracle is the key to the 
chapter, and we shall return to it. 

In verses 20 to 22 is given the principle of 
prayer. "And all things, whatsoever ye shall 
ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." It 
is the mighty, potent weapon which God has 
put into the hands of His people. Any one who 



THE FALSE SHEPHERDS WARNED. 267 

is really in sympathy with God through Christ 
may ask what he will and it shall be done unto 
him. 

The False Shepherds Warned 

Now comes the King's warning for the false 
leaders. They ask Him a question in verse 23, 
"By what authority doest Thou these things? 
and who gave Thee this authority ?" But their 
question was not an honest one, and He replied 
by asking another, concerning the baptism of 
John, whether it was from heaven, or of men. 
And they said among themselves, "If we shall 
say, From heaven; He will say unto us, Why 
did ye not then believe him? But if we shall 
say, Of men — we fear the people; for all hold 
John as a Prophet. " So they evaded the ques- 
tion. They were unwilling to acknowledge the 
truth. So they said, "We cannot tell." And 
He answered, "Neither tell I you by what au- 
thority I do these things. " Then follows imme- 
diately the parable of the two sons. "A certain 
man had two sons : and he came to the first, and 
said, Son, go w r ork to-day in my vineyard. He 
answered and said, I will not; but afterward he 
repented, and went." This son represents the 
Publicans and harlots. "And he came to the 
second, and said likewise. And he answered and 
said, I go, sir ; and went not." This second son 
represents the leaders — the Pharisees and 
Scribes. Their profession was good — "I go, 
sir;" but it was not followed by obedience. So 



268 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

it is with men to-day; O, what multitudes are 
saying, "I'll go where you want me to go, dear 
Lord," when they would do no such thing. It 
is profession without any real heart-purpose to 
do the will of God. 

Warning to the Nation 

Then is given, in addition to the warning to 
the leaders, the warning to the nation itself, in 
the parable of the vineyard, verses 33 to 46. 
"Hear another parable: There was a man that 
was a householder, which planted a vineyard, 
and set a hedge about it, and digged a winepress 
in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husband- 
men, and went into another country. And when 
the season of the fruits drew near, he sent his 
servants to the husbandmen, to receive his fruits. 
And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat 
one, and killed another, and stoned another. 
Again, he sent other servants more than the first : 
and they did unto them in like manner. But af- 
terward he sent unto them his son, saying, They 
will reverence my son. But the husbandmen, 
when they saw the son, said among themselves, 
This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and take 
his inheritance. And they took him and cast 
him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. 
When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall 
come, what will he do unto those husbandmen? 
They say unto him, He will miserably destroy 
those miserable men, and will let out the vine- 
yard unto other husbandmen, which will render 



WARNING TO THE NATION 269 

him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto 
them, Did ye never read in the Scriptures, 

'The Stone which the builders rejected, 
The same was made the Head of the Corner ; 
This was from the Lord, 
And it is marvelous in our eyes?' 

Therefore say I unto you, The Kingdom of God 
shall be taken away from you, and shall be given 
to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. 
And he that falleth on this stone shall be broken 
to pieces ; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will 
scatter him as dust. And when the Chief Priests 
and Pharisees heard His parables, they per- 
ceived that He spake of them. And when they 
sought to lay hold on Him, they feared the mul- 
titudes, because they took Him for a Prophet. " 

Who is this nation to which the Kingdom of 
God is committed? In 1 Pet. 2: 9 we read, "But 
ye are a chosen generation, a royal Priesthood, 
a holy nation, a peculiar people: that ye should 
show forth the praises of Him Who hath called 
you out of darkness into His marvelous light/' 
The Church of God is the new nation, a holy na- 
tion, gathered out of all the nations. Not that 
the Church is the Kingdom. It is not; but the 
Kingdom of God is committed to the Church in 
this present Dispensation, until Israel shall be 
taken up again. 

Jesus is the Stone Which the builders rejected 
and Which has become the Head of the Corner. 
He is to Israel "a Stone of stumbling, and a 



270 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

Rock of offence." To the Church He is the 
great Rock Foundation. To the Gentile world 
He is the Stone cut out of the mountain without 
hands, "and he that falleth on this Stone shall 
be broken to pieces ; but on whomsoever It shall 
fall, It will scatter him as dust." 

This is surely a reference to the vision of 
Nebuchadnezzar, given in the second chapter of 
Daniel : "Thou sawest till that a Stone was cut 
out without hands, which smote the image upon 
his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake 
them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the 
brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces 
together, and became like the chaff of the sum- 
mer threshingfloors ; and the wind carried them 
away, that no place was found for them: and 
the Stone that smote the image became a great 
mountain, and filled the whole earth." 

The Sign of the Fig Tree 

The teaching of this chapter turns upon the 
dispensational meaning of the sign of the blasted 
fig tree and the parables which follow it. The 
vineyard is a familiar Old Testament type of the 
nation of Israel. The fig tree is a figure of the 
Jewish nation in the time of our Lord's First 
Advent. In Psalm 80 we read of the vine which 
the Lord brought out of Egypt. He planted that 
vine in good soil in the Holy Land, He hedged 
it about, He protected it from enemies on every 
side; but when He looked that it should bring 
forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes, it 



THE SIGN OF THE FIG TREE. 271 

was "turned into the degenerate plant of a strange 
vine." (See also Isa. 5: 1-7.) And that whole 
people was taken out of that land into another. 
The ten-tribe Kingdom never returned, but the 
two-tribe Kingdom came back, or a remnant of 
it, and in Luke (Ch. 13:6-9), as well as in our 
present chapter in Matthew, verses 19 and 20, 
the later history of this remnant is given. The 
story in Luke reads: "He spake also this par- 
able: A certain man had a fig tree planted in 
his vineyard ; and he came and sought fruit there- 
and found none. Then said he unto the dresser 
of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come 
seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none : cut 
it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And 
he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone 
this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung 
it: and if it bear fruit, well; and if not, then 
after that thou shalt cut it down." The Gar- 
dener, I take it, is Jesus Himself; and O, how 
He did dig about the fig tree of His people of 
Judah in those years of His ministry ! and finally 
He gave up His life for it. And when, 
after He had gone up into Heaven, it still 
failed to bring forth fruit, God did cut it down 
and take it away out of that land, and it never 
has cumbered the ground in His vineyard since. 
In the meantime, God planted the true Vine. 
When the righteous Branch came, He was not 
recognized as such, but was rejected and cast out 
of the vineyard; therefore, God planted Him in 
the heavenly soil, and we who believe on Him 



272 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

are branches, baptized into His Body by the Holy 
Spirit, unto His Name's honor and glory. (John 
15; 1 Cor. 12.) 

But God is not through with the earthly vine. 
Jesus shall return. As it is written in Jer. 23: 
5-8, "Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that 
I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and 
a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute 
judgment and justice in the earth. In His days 
Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell 
safely: and this is His Name whereby He shall 
be called, Jehovah-Tsidkeenu. Therefore, be- 
hold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that they 
shall no more say, Jehovah liveth, Which 
brought up the children of Israel out of the land 
of Egypt ; but, Jehovah liveth, Which brought up 
and Which led the seed of the house of Israel 
out of the north country, and from all countries 
whither I had driven them ; and they shall dwell 
in their own land." Let us bless God that the 
time is coming when He shall return, and the 
true Vine shall be planted in the vineyard which 
at present is devastated and demolished. But all 
this awaits the replanting of the earthly vine. In 
that day, according to Isa. 27 : 6, "He shall cause 
them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel 
shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the 
world with fruit." 

The fig tree is Judah, it must be remembered ; 
and it was Judah, not "all Israel," that rejected 
Jesus. The ten tribes had nothing to do with 
it, for they were already the lost tribes, though 



THE SIGN OF THE FIG TREE. 273 

there were individuals of all the tribes found 
in the land in the time of Jesus. It has been 
pointed out that the only "Jew," strictly speak- 
ing, among Jesus' disciples, was Judas Iscariot, 
who betrayed Him. This gives great force to 
John 1:11, "He came unto His own, and His 
own received Him not." Nathanael was a rep- 
resentative and type of the lost ten tribes, found 
"under the fig tree," and owning Jesus, the Lion 
of the Tribe of Judah, as the Son of God and 
King of Israel. Like this Israelite indeed, in 
whom was no guile, so "all Israel" shall be de- 
livered from ungodliness; and in that day — the 
day of His power — His people shall be willing. 
(See Psalm no.) 

The blasting of the fig tree has often been 
used as a basis for criticism of the Lord Jesus. 
Men have said that He acted in undue haste and 
anger, as it is stated in Mark 11:13 that "the 
time of figs was not yet." Now, it is a peculiar- 
ity of the fig tree that the fruit comes before the 
leaves, and if the time of figs was not yet, neith- 
er was it the time for leaves. This gives us the 
key. By its foliage, the tree was professing to 
have fruit upon it: so the Jewish people had 
much of religious profession and pretension, 
but no fruit. There never was a time when 
they were so punctilious in religious matters as 
in the time when Jesus came, and as the fig tree 
was bearing so many leaves, He had a right to 
expect some fruit; therefore, He acted right- 
eously, in the type, when He said, "No man eat 



274 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

fruit of thee hereafter for ever/' The fig tree 
is cut down ; and when Judah is again planted in 
the land, it will not be as a fig tree, but as a 
part of the restored vine, for in that day the 
twelve tribes shall be reunited; they shall dwell 
in one fold, and one King shall rule over them, 
even Jehovah- Jesus, the Root and Offspring of 
David, the Bright and Morning Star. Men shall 
not, indeed, eat from the fig tree, but from the 
restored vineyard. 

"In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of 
red wine. I Jehovah do keep it; I will water it 
every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it 
night and day. Fury is not in Me; who would 
set the briers and thorns against Me in battle? 
I would go through them, I would burn them 
together. Or let him take hold of My strength, 
that he may make peace with Me; and he shall 
make peace with Me. He shall cause them that 
come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom 
and bud, and fill the face of the world with 
fruit." (Isa. 27:2-6.) 

"The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts will perform 
this." 



THE KING AND HIS ENEMIES 



Chapter 22 



In the 22d chapter the King is still replying to 
His enemies' questionings of chapter 21. They 
had asked, "By what authority doest thou these 
things? and who gave thee this authority?" 
The Lord Jesus' answer is contained in three 
parables: (1) the Parable of the Two Sons; 
(2) the Parable of the Vineyard; and (3) the 
Parable of the Marriage. The last of these is 
found in chapter 22. 

In the Parable of the Marriage, God the Fa- 
ther is depicted as a certain King, Who made a 
marriage for His Son. The Old Testament 
Prophets are the servants first sent forth to call 
the invited guests — Israel — to the marriage feast : 
and they would not come. 

Between verses 3 and 4 the Cross is set up, 
and everything made ready. On the great Day 
of Pentecost (Acts 2) other servants went forth, 
still inviting the people of Israel. Led by Peter, 
and filled with the Holy Ghost, a band of 120 
servants pressed home the invitation upon the 
multitude of "Jews, devout men, from every na- 
tion under heaven." These servants told them 
that were bidden, "Behold, I have made ready 
My dinner ; My oxen and My f atlings are killed, 
and all things are ready: come to the marriage 

275 



276 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

feast/' Compare Acts 2 : 39 — "For unto you is 
the promise, and to your children, and to all 
that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our 
God shall call unto Him." 

Peter and John, Stephen and James, as well 
as other servants of God, went on pressing the 
invitation upon Israel. "But they made light of 
it and went their ways — 'every one to his own 
way' — and the rest laid hold on His servants and 
treated them shamefully and killed them." Thus 
did Stephen die, heading the noble band of mar- 
tyrs, and praying, "Lord, lay not this sin to their 
charge." 

"But the King was wroth: and He sent His 
armies, and destroyed those murderers and 
burned their city." (V. 7.) Here God speaks 
of the Roman armies as His own, while disown- 
ing and repudiating Jerusalem: "His armies 
* * * * burned their city." (Compare Dan. 
9:26.) 

The sending of the Gospel invitation to the 
Gentiles is seen in verses 9 and 10. The ser- 
vants are instructed to bid as many as they shall 
find. Thus even the outcasts are gathered to- 
gether — both bad and good are there — and the 
wedding is filled with guests. (Compare Rev. 
19:6-9.) 

The fate of the outward professor is set forth 
in verses 11-13. Christ is the Wedding-Garment, 
free to all the guests, to be "put on" by all. 
(Compare Rom. 13: 14.) Those who have the 
form of godliness without its power will be cast 



TRAPS FOR THE KING. 277 

out unto the weeping and gnashing of teeth. 
For many are called — "invited" here — but few 
chosen. Those are "chosen" who put on the 
wedding garment provided by the King. 

Traps for the King 

In verses 15 to 40 we have three distinct 
attempts to "snare Him in His talk" — vain at- 
tempts, for His words are ever pure words : 

"His lips with grace o'erflow." 

First came the Pharisees and Herodians. 
These natural enemies and opposites, represen- 
tatives respectively of strict ritualism and loose 
worldliness, made common cause against the 
Prince of Glory. Their question was full of sub- 
tlety, and the Lord Jesus' answer was full of 
wisdom. It is a well-established principle that 
"wherever the money of any King is current, 
there the inhabitants acknowledge that King as 
their lord." So it was that, when He said unto 
them, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things 
that are Csesar's, and unto God the things that 
are God's," they marveled, and left Him, and 
went away. 

Then came the Sadducees, the rationalists, 
who denied the resurrection. They were mate- 
rialists, rejecting everything supernatural, deny- 
ing the existence of angels and the future life. 
Their method of argument was the reductio ad 
absurdum, a method commonly followed in our 
day, by which it is attempted to destroy the truth 



278 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW, 

by making it seem ridiculous. These Sad- 
ducees came saying, "Teacher, Moses said, 'If 
a man die having no children, his brother shall 
marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his broth- 
er/ Now there were with us seven brethren: 
and the first married and deceased, and having 
no seed left his wife unto his brother; and in 
like manner the second also, unto the seventh. 
And after them all, the woman died. In the 
resurrection therefore whose wife shall she be 
of the seven? For they all had her." (Vs. 24- 
28.) 

It was a cleverly framed question, but the 
reply of Jesus is yet more remarkable, for in a 
few words He testified to the reality of the res- 
urrection, the existence of angels and heaven, 
and the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures: 
"Ye do err," He said, "Not knowing the Scrip- 
tures, nor the power of God. For in the resur- 
rection they neither marry, nor are given in mar- 
riage, but are as angels in heaven. But as 
touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye 
not read that which was spoken unto you by 
God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, and 
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?' God 
is not the God of the dead, but of the living." 
(Vs. 29-32.) 

The Sadducees silenced, the Pharisees return to 
the attack. They have left the Herodians behind 
now and are seeking to entangle the Lord Jesus 
through an expert in the Scriptures — "a Law- 
yer." (Vs. 34-40.) He was soon answered, for 



THE KING'S ENEMIES CONFOUNDED. 279 

Jesus refused to be drawn into a comparison of 
different parts of the Word of God. It must be 
considered as a whole and not as in separated 
parts. "All Scripture is God-breathed." (2 
Tim. 3:16.) 

The King's Enemies Confounded 

In the final paragraph of our chapter, the 
Lord Jesus turns questioner, with the result that 
"no one was able to answer Him a word, neither 
durst any man from that day forth ask Him any 
more questions." (V. 46.) From this little sec- 
tion we may gather three valuable lessons : 

First — Jesus shows that He is David's Son 
and David's Lord. He is of the seed of David 
according to the flesh and the Son of God ac- 
cording to the Spirit of Holiness. (Romans 1 : 

3,40 

Second — He recognizes the Psalm written by 
David as being from the Holy Spirit. (Compare 
v. 43, R. V., with Mark 12 : 36 and Luke 20:42.) 

Third — He anticipates His return to His heav- 
enly home, and His welcome there, as described 
in the 110th Psalm. Thirty-three years before, 
He had left that glorious home, girding Himself 
for His mighty work in the earth. Upon His 
return we may well believe all heaven rang 
with glad acclaim, as "Jehovah said unto my 
Lord, 'Sit Thou on My right hand, till I put 
Thine enemies under Thy feet.' " 

He sits there now, on the right hand of the 
Majesty on High, expecting. And we, too, are 



2 8o SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

expecting, for it is written that this same Jesus 
shall come again in like manner as He went 
away. We have turned unto God from idols, 
to serve the living and true God, and wait for 
His Son from heaven, even Jesus, Who delivered 
us from the wrath to come. "My soul waiteth 
for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the 
morning ; yea, more than watchmen for the morn- 
ing!" (Ps. 130:6.) 



THE KING'S FINAL DISCOURSE 



Chapter 23 



We have now reached in our study the begin- 
ning of the Olivet discourse. There are five 
formal discourses of our Lord recorded in Mat- 
thew, all of them ending with a similar formula. 
(Compare chapter 7 : 28 ; 1 1 : 1 ; 13 : 53 ; 19 : 1 ; 
26: 1.) The Olivet discourse is the last of these, 
and includes chapters 23, 24 and 25. 

Let us not forget that we are reading the ma- 
jestic pronouncements of the King. There are 
many Kings and Princes in the world, but He 
only can truly be called the King. He is not 
one of many: He is the King of Glory; He is 
the Prince of Peace. 

Warning Against False Leadership 

In the thirteenth chapter of Romans the prin- 
ciple is laid down that human government is a 
divinely appointed institution. "The powers that 
be are ordained of God," and they are to be 
obeyed in all matters of civil duty. So here the 
King says, "The Scribes and Pharisees sit in 
Moses' seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid 
you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye 
after their works : for they say and do not." 

(VS. 2, 3.) 

Touching the spiritual realm, the King decrees 
281 



282 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

that there must not be submission to any man 
as father, teacher or spiritual director. "Be not 
ye called 'Rabbi' ; for One is your Teacher, and 
all ye are brethren. And call no man your fa- 
ther on the earth : For One is your Father, even 
He Who is in heaven. Neither be ye called 
masters : for One is your Master, even the Christ. 
But he that is greatest among you shall be your 
servant." (Vs. 8-12.) 

There is a much needed warning here against 
the use of fleshly titles, but there is also a far 
deeper lesson. "The injunction of Christ in 
verses 8-10," as Dr. Weston writes, "is a decla- 
ration of the essential relations of man to God. 
Three things constitute a Christian : what he is, 
what he believes, what he does — doctrine, ex- 
perience, practice. Man needs for his spiritual 
being three things: life, instruction, guidance; 
just what our Lord declares in the ten words of 
the Gospel — 'I am the Way, and the Truth and 
the Life/ The Roman Catholic Church has 
caught these three things with its usual insight, 
and avows its ability to supply them. The of- 
fice of the Roman Catholic Church is claimed to 
be threefold — the priestly office, imparting and 
sustaining life by means of the sacraments; the 
teaching office, endowed with infallibility; the 
guiding office, by spiritual confessors. These 
three things are just what our Lord forbids in 
the passage under consideration. Acknowledge 
no man as father, for no man can impart or sus- 
tain spiritual life; install no man as an infallible 



FALSE LEADERS OPENLY DENOUNCED. 283 

teacher; allow no one to assume the office of 
spiritual director; your relation to God and to 
Christ is as close as that of any other person/' 
("The Genesis of the New Testament/' by H. 
G. Weston, pp. no, in.) 

False Leaders Openly Denounced 

Our Lord Jesus appears in this passage (vs. 
13-36) in a strange role, as with scathing words 
He hurls woe upon woe at these blind guides sit- 
ting in Moses' seat. The denunciation is seven- 
fold, the fourteenth verse being omitted from 
the best manuscripts and from the Revised Ver- 
sion. Seven is the number of completeness, 
and surely this bitter arraignment of Israel's 
false shepherds is complete. The summing up is 
in verses 32-36: "Fill ye up then the measure 
of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye offspring of 
vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell? 
Therefore, behold, I send unto you Prophets, 
and wise men, and Scribes : some of them shall 
ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye 
scourge in your Synagogues, and persecute from 
city to city: that upon you may come all the 
righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood 
of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zacha- 
riah son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the 
sanctuary and the altar. Verily I say unto you, 
All these things shall come upon this generation." 

And surely, one scarcely needs to remark upon 
the awful fulfillment of this prediction in the 
Destruction of Jerusalem less than forty years 



284 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

later, and in the terrible persecutions which have 
followed these people — the chosen people of God 
— all because they would not come unto Him that 
they might have life. 

The King's Farewell to His Capital 

The lamentation of verses 37 to 39, over the 
doomed but beloved city, is in sharpest contrast 
with the terrible woes preceding it, and is full 
of pathos: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth 
the Prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto 
her! How often would I have gathered thy 
children together, even as a hen gathereth her 
chickens under her wings and ye would not ! Be- 
hold, your house is left unto you desolate. For 
I say unto you, ye shall not see Me henceforth, 
till ye shall say, 'Blessed is He that cometh in 
the name of the Lord !' " 

How sad is this wail from the bleeding heart 
of the disowned King — bleeding indeed, though 
not for Himself, but for His stubborn and rebel- 
lious people, who are His kinsmen according to 
the flesh ! 

Bless God for that little word, "till," which 
points to the bright beacon light of hope just 
ahead! In the day of rejection and humiliation, 
His lament was, "How often would I have gath- 
ered thee. . .and ye would not." He would, but 
they would not. He was willing but they were 
not willing. Let us thank God for His promise 
to the Lord Jesus when He said, "Thy people 
shall be willing in the day of Thy power." (Ps. 



THE KING'S FAREWELL. 285 . 

no.) It is to that day that this word "till" 
points forward. Many times in the New Testa- 
ment this word is thus used to direct our at- 
tention to those things not seen as yet but which 
must shortly come to pass: 

First — Matt. 22 : 24 — "Jehovah said unto my 
Lord, 'Sit Thou on My right hand, till I put 
Thine enemies under Thy feet/ " (Compare 
Psalm no: 1 and 1 Cor. 15:25.) 

Second — Luke 19 : 13 — "Occupy till I come." 

Third — Romans 1 1 : 25 — "A hardening in part 
hath befallen Israel until the fulness of the Gen- 
tiles be come in." 

Fourth — Luke 21 : 24 — "Jerusalem shall be 
trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of 
the Gentiles be fulfilled." 

Fifth— Acts 3: 18-21— "The things which God 
foreshadowed by the mouth of all the Prophets, 
that His Christ should suffer, He thus fulfilled. 
Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your 
sins may be blotted out, that so there may come 
seasons of refreshing from the presence of the 
Lord; and that He may send the Christ Who 
hath been appointed for you, even Jesus : Whom 
the heaven must receive until the times of re- 
storation of all things whereof God spake by 
the mouth of His holy Prophets that have been 
from of old." 

Sixth — 2 Thes. 2:7 — "The mystery of law- 
lessness doth already work; only there is One 
(i. e., the Holy Spirit) that restraineth now, 
until He be taken out of the way." 



286 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

Seventh — I Cor. 11:26 — "As often as ye eat 
this bread and drink the cup, ye proclaim the 
Lord's death till He come." 

" 'Till He come !' Oh, let the words 
Linger on the trembling chords. 
Let the little while between 
In their golden light be seen. 
Let us think how Heaven and home 
Lie beyond that — 'till He come/ 

"When the weary ones we love 
Enter on their rest above, 
Seems the Earth so poor and vast, 
All our life joy overcast? 
Hush ! Be every murmur dumb : 
It is only 'till He come/ 

"See, the feast of love is spread. 
Drink the wine, and break the bread. 
Sweet memorials, — till the Lord 
Call us 'round His heav'nly board: 
Some from Earth, from Glory some, 
Sever'd only 'till He come.'" 



THE KING AS PROPHET 



Chapter 24 



The twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew is the 
climax of the predictive teachings of the Lord 
Jesus. It is altogether a Jewish prophecy. It 
must ever be remembered, in the study of Proph- 
ecy, that Jesus Christ was, first of all, "a Min- 
ister of the Circumcision for the truth of God, 
to confirm the promises made unto the fathers," 
and it is only afterwards that His ministry is 
toward the nations — "that the Gentiles might 
glorify God for His mercy. ,, (Ro. 15:8, 9.) 

The Church does not figure in this chapter at 
all. She was still, when these words were spok- 
en, the mystery hid in God. (Eph. 3.) It fol- 
lows, therefore, that the Rapture of the Church 
is not in view here, but rather "the Revelation 
of the Lord Jesus from Heaven." (2 Thess. 
1.) What we see here is not His coming for 
His saints, to catch them up to Himself in the 
air, but His coming with His saints, to the earth, 
to set up the throne of David, which is broken 
down, and to establish the Millennial Kingdom. 

The whole period of the present parenthetical 
Church Dispensation is entirely omitted, and 
treated as if it were not. This is not unusual; 
indeed, it is the rule in the prophetic Scriptures. 

Therefore, if we are to understand the chap- 
ter before us, we must eliminate the Church and 

287 



288 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

the Church Age altogether from our calcula- 
tions, and think only of the Kingdom, which 
is to be manifested when the King comes back 
to the earth again. 

The Threefold Question 

It is important to observe the connection be- 
tween the queries of the disciples and what pre- 
cedes them. In chapter 23 our Lord's lamenta- 
tion over Jerusalem is written, closing with the 
prophetic word of verses 38 and 39: "Behold, 
your house is left unto you desolate. For I 
say unto you, Ye shall not see Me henceforth, 
till ye shall say, 'Blessed is He that cometh in 
the name of the Lord.' " Then as Jesus went 
out from the Temple and His disciples proudly 
called His attention to the grandeur and beauty 
of the sacred edifice, Jesus uttered His solemn 
prediction of Jerusalem's destruction. (Ch. 24: 
1, 2.) The disciples followed Him out to Olivet 
and then questioned Him privately. Three things 
they asked Him to tell them: 

First— "When shall these things be?" 

Second — "What shall be the sign of Thy com- 
ing?" 

Third— "And of the End of the Age?" 

The Answer 

In His reply the Lord Jesus does not tell when 
"these things" should be, except that He shows 
the order of "these things," in their relation to 
one another. He begins rather, by telling when 



WHILE THE KING IS AWAY. 289 

these things should not be, warning His dis- 
ciples against mistaking the signs of the End- 
Time. (See vs. 36, 42.) 

The little phrase "The End" is the key to the 
prophetic arrangement of the chapter. It marks 
a very definite point of time, and always the same 
point. It is not the End of the world, as the 
Greek word in verse 3 is not "kosmos," but 
"aion," and signifies Age or Dispensation. 
What the disciples were asking about was the 
End of the Jewish Age or Dispensation in which 
they were then living. Now that Dispensation 
has not yet been completed. It was interrupted 
by the coming in of the Church at Pentecost, as 
Peter's sheet let down from heaven. (Acts 
10.) There will be seven years of the Jewish 
Age yet to run after the Church has been caught 
up into heaven. This period of seven years 
is Daniel's seventieth week. (Dan. 9.) 

While the King is Away 

The characteristics of the interval during the 
King's absence from the earth are shown in 
verses 4 to 14 of our chapter. There were to be 
false Messiahs, wars and rumors of wars, fam- 
ines, pestilences and earthquakes. These, how- 
ever, were not to mark "the End," but "the 
beginning of sorrows." (Vs. 5-8.) Though 
characteristic of the whole interval, these signs 
will be intensified as the great Day of God's 
Wrath approaches. 

Universal anti-semitism, or hatred toward the 



290 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

Jew, is seen in verses 9-13, followed by uni- 
versal evangelization, the Gospel of the King- 
dom being preached in all the world as a wit- 
ness to all nations. (V. 14.) This Gospel of the 
Kingdom is not the message entrusted to 
the Church to-day, but rather the mes- 
sage to be proclaimed after the Church is 
taken away. It is the Gospel preached by 
the Lord Jesus and His disciples during the 
days of His flesh. Our Gospel is the Gospel of 
the Grace of God, by which we proclaim sal- 
vation for all who believe on the name of the 
Son of God: the Gospel of the Kingdom is a 
proclamation of the near approach of the King. 
His servants shall then go everywhere preach- 
ing and saying, "Repent, for the Kingdom of 
Heaven is at hand!" — "and then shall the End 
comer' That is, the End of the Seven Years 
period, the End of the Jewish Dispensation, the 
End of the awful horrors of The Great Tribu- 
lation. 

This fourteenth verse is often misapplied as 
predicting universal world-evangelization before 
the Lord's coming for His saints. As we have 
already pointed out, the true application is to 
that period which must follow the catching-up 
of the Church. The Church is not waiting for 
any sign whatsoever : we are waiting only for 
Him. 

The Day of Wrath 

In verses 15 to 28 the prophecy takes up in 



THE KING'S GLORIOUS RETURN. 291 

detail the scenes of The Great Tribulation, 
spoken of by Daniel the Prophet. Luke's de- 
scription of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus 
shows that it was but a type of the final siege 
of Jerusalem by the Antichrist, at the head of the 
combined armies of the allied nations of the 
world. (Compare Zech. 14.) 

The King's Glorious Return 

In verses 29 to 31 we have the glorious com- 
ing of the Son of Man to judgment. "Imme- 
diately after the Tribulation of those days" shall 
He come in the clouds of heaven with power and 
great glory. The sun and moon shall hide their 
faces at the manifestation of the Sun of Right- 
eousness as He shines forth in the splendor of 
God, with His bride beside Him and the majestic 
retinue of the holy angels. The stars also shall 
fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens 
shall shake with His stately steppings. 

The regathering of Israel, His elect nation, 
will immediately follow His Advent. Having 
destroyed the hostile armies besieging the holy 
city, He will accomplish His gracious word to- 
ward His chosen people, for the time to favor 
Zion, yea the set time is come. (V. 31.) 

The King's Exhortations 

The chapter closes with the most solemn ex- 
hortations and admonitions concerning the com- 
ing of the great day. This generation — that is, 
the nation of Israel — shall not pass away until 



292 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

all these things be fulfilled. The time is un- 
certain, but His coming is certain. His servants 
are to watch and be ready. Great danger threat- 
ens that servant who presumes on His Lord de- 
laying His coming. 

Now, if the Jewish disciples are thus warned 
to watch for the Advent which will be attended 
by such signs, how much more should we, Chris- 
tians, be watching for His coming which will 
be unexpected, as a thief in the night! They 
are to be watching for the Sun of Righteous- 
ness, but we are looking with longing gaze for 
the beautiful Morning Star. May God grant 
unto us that we may be "looking for that Blessed 
Hope!" 

"Even so, Lord Jesus, come! 
Hope of all our hopes the sum! 
Take Thy waiting people home ! 

"Long, so long, our blessed dead 
Wait, from out the grave's dark bed 
At Thine Advent to be led. 

"Long, so long, the groaning Earth, 
Cursed with war, and flood, and dearth, 
Sighs for its redemption birth. 

"Wherefore come, we daily pray; 
Wipe creation's curse away; 
Bring the Resurrection Day!" 



THE KING AS JUDGE 



Chapter 25 



In the 25th chapter of Matthew we are still 
altogether on Jewish ground, and the scenes de- 
scribed are those which shall be enacted on the 
earth, not in heaven. And not at the end of 
time, nor at the End of the World, but at the 
End of the Jewish Age. This is "The End" 
so often spoken of in chapter 24. This present 
Church Age is not contemplated at all. The Dis- 
pensation in view is that in which the words 
were spoken, and which, though temporarily in- 
terrupted by the coming in of the parenthetical 
Church Age, is yet unfinished; and which can- 
not be completed until the Church is taken out 
of the way. "Then shall the Kingdom of Heav- 
en be likened unto ten virgins." (V. 1.) This 
word "then" marks the exact time indicated by 
the parable uttered by our Lord. The word 
means, "at that time". (Compare ch. 24:45-51 
and ch. 25: 1, 14, R. V.) 

The chapter is divided into three parts, con- 
taining the Parable of the Ten Virgins, the Par- 
able of the Talents and the Judgment of the 
Gentile Nations, which shall be found upon the 
earth at the King's return from "a far country." 

The Test of Discipleship 

The coming of the Bridegroom here is not at 
293 



294 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

the Rapture of the Church. Such a thing is not 
to be sought for in Matthew. It is rather His 
return with His bride at the close of The Great 
Tribulation. (See ch. 24:29, 30.) It is "the 
Revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with 
the angels of His power in flaming fire, rendering 
vengeance to them that know not God, and to 
them that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus : 
who shall suffer punishment, even eternal de- 
struction from the face of the Lord and from 
the glory of His might, when He shall come to 
be glorified in His saints and to be marveled at 
in all them that believed in that day." (2 Thess. 
1:7-10 R. V.) 

In the ancient Syriac New Testament as well 
as the Latin Vulgate, the first verse of our chap- 
ter reads : "Then may the Kingdom of Heaven 
be shadowed forth by ten virgins, who took their 
lamps and went out to meet the Bridegroom and 
Bride." (See John 3:29.) 

The virgins are professing Jewish disciples 
during the King's absence and just preceding His 
return. In Rev. 14 : 4, the same type is em- 
ployed. (See also Ps. 45: 14.) The Church as 
the bride of Christ is never seen in prophetic 
Scripture as a number of individuals, but always 
as one body. In 2 Cor. 11:2 she is "a chaste 
virgin," not a company of virgins. The bride 
will certainly appear with her Bridegroom when 
He is manifested, but she is not typified by the 
virgins in the Parable. 



THE TEST OF DISCIPLESHIP. 295 

The lamps or torches are the Word of God 
in a type. (Ps. 119: 105; 2 Pet. 1: 19.) 

The going forth of the virgins is their out- 
ward profession of loyalty to the coming King. 
They all "went forth." 

The oil is a type of the Holy Spirit. (Zech. 
4.) Five of the virgins had oil in their vessels 
with their torches. So every regenerate person 
has the Holy Spirit indwelling his body as well 
as the Word of God in his hands. We have this 
treasure in earthen vessels. (2 Cor. 4:7; 1 
Cor. 6:19.) The foolish virgins took no oil. 
They were "none of His ,, (Ro. 8:9) for though 
they had a form of godliness they denied the 
power thereof. (2 Tim. 3:5.) 

All boasting is excluded by the humiliating 
statement of the fifth verse — "While the Bride- 
groom tarried they all slumbered and slept," 
wise and foolish together, showing the failure 
of the flesh, and reminding us of our Lord's 
agonized question in the garden. (Matt. 26: 
40.) 

The scene which follows the midnight cry is 
very pitiful. There is a great trimming of lamps, 
signifying, in the figure, a frantic searching of 
the Word of God at a time when it will be too 
late; a great longing for the oil of God, even a 
willingness to buy at any cost — but it is all in 
vain, for while they went, the Bridegroom came 
and the door was shut. There is much prayer — 
"Lord, Lord, open to us!" but He knows them 
not, for they are not among "them that are 



296 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

His." (2 Tim. 2:19.) Surely there is need 
for the exhortation of verse 13, "Watch there- 
fore!" (Compare Luke 12:35, 36.) 

The Test of Service 

The italics in verse 14 are misleading and 
should be omitted. The revision has greatly im- 
proved the rendering of the verse. Our Lord is 
simply using a second illustration to make His 
meaning perfectly clear. He still has in mind 
His coming as King and Judge of all the earth. 
We are still on Jewish ground. There is no 
grace — only law. (See vs. 19, 30.) Observe 
that "talents" is a commercial word, meaning 
a large sum of money. As a type it stands in 
this parable for gifts for service. (Compare 1 
Peter 4:10, 11.) The reckoning time is at the 
King's return. 

The Judgment of Living Nations 
The Judgment of Living Nations follows. 
This is not a General Judgment, and indeed 
there is no such thing to be found in all Scrip- 
ture. The idea of a General Judgment at the 
End of the World, when everyone who ever 
lived on the earth shall appear before the throne 
of God to have it decided where each shall spend 
eternity is without foundation in the Word of 
God. 

The Judgment of Believers' Sins is already 
past. The Lord Jesus bore our sins in His own 
body on the tree. And He Himself said, "Ver- 
ily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My 



THE JUDGMENT OF LIVING NATIONS. 297 

word, and believeth Him that sent Me, HATH 
eternal life, and COMETH NOT INTO 
JUDGMENT, but hath passed out of death 
into life." (John 5:24 R. V.) 

The Judgment of Believers' Works will take 
place "in the air," when Jesus comes for the 
Church. The matter of our salvation will never 
be brought into question, but it is written that 
every work must come into judgment. (See 
1 Cor. 3:11-15.) 

The Judgment of the Wicked Dead will be 
after the Millennium. It is fully described in 
the twentieth chapter of The Revelation. 

The Judgment of Living Nations is the one 
set forth in Matt. 25. It will take place at the 
Glorious Appearing of Christ. The same judgment 
is described in the third chapter of Joel, where 
we learn that the Judgment will be in the valley 
of Jehoshaphat in the vicinity of Jerusalem, where 
the nations found upon the earth at Christ's Sec- 
ond Advent will be brought before Him to an- 
swer for their treatment of His brethren. These 
"brethren" are doubtless the Jewish Remnant 
who will have turned to the Lord during the ter- 
rible scenes of The Great Tribulation. They are 
the evangelizing messengers, testifying to the 
world of the coming of the Kingdom. (Ch. 24: 
14.) Those who believe the Gospel they preach 
will show it by their attitude towards the mes- 
sengers. Those who reject it will also reject 
them. The result of this Judgment is seen in 
the 46th verse — "These shall go away into ever- 



298 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

lasting punishment; but the righteous into life 
eternal." 

Our Lord's coming for His Church must pre- 
cede all this. How important it is that we should 
be always alert, watching for Him and prepared 
for His coming! 

"Head of the Church, Thy body, 
O Christ, the great Salvation! 

Sweet to the saints 

It is to think 
Of all Thine Exaltation. 
All power's to Thee committed — 
All power, on Earth, in Heaven; 

To Thee a Name 

Of widest fame 
Above all glory's given. 

"With Thee, believers, raised, 
In Thee on High are seated; 

All guilty once, 

But cleared by Thee: 
Redemption toil's completed. 
And when Thou, Lord and Saviour, 
Shalt come again in glory, 

There, by Thy side, 

Thy spotless bride 
Shall crown the wondrous story. 

"At length — the final Kingdom ! 
No bound, no end possessing! 

When Heaven and Earth, 

God— all in all- 
Shall fill with largest blessing. 
All root of evil banished, 
No breath of sin to wither; 

On Earth — on High — 

Naught else but joy, 
And blissful peace for ever !" 



THE KING'S GREAT LOVE 



Chapter 26 



The clock of prophecy moves very swiftly in 
the 26th chapter, and the picture presented is 
full of animation. In the foreground are seen 
men moved with blind passion and hatred to- 
wards God, rushing upon the thick bosses of 
His bucklers, seeking to extinguish the light of 
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face 
of Jesus Christ. 

And behind the scenes — God. Men may be- 
lieve that because He is a God that hideth Him- 
self, therefore He doth not know; the fool may 
even say in his heart that there is no God. But 
He lives, and loves, and knows, and cares, And 
the believer looks up into the thick darkness 
where God is and cries unto Him, "Surely the 
wrath of man shall praise Thee ! The remainder 
of wrath shalt Thou restrain !" (Ps. 76:10.) 
Poor, puny, feeble man may gloat over God's ap- 
parent defeat, and boast himself of his own little 
mightiness : but God is not dead, and God is not 
defeated. God is not deceived, and God is not 
mocked. He can afford to wait and He maketh 
the clouds His chariot. 

The Son of God is about to die for His en- 
emies. He was born of a woman "in the fullness 
of the time;" He will now, "in due time/' die 

299 



300 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

for the ungodly. His hour has now come. Be- 
hold, how patiently he treads the path toward 
the Cross — for this cause came he forth. Be 
hold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin 
of the world! 

The Willing Sacrifice 

Let it be always remembered that the Good 
Shepherd willingly yielded up His life for His 
sheep. He, through the Eternal Spirit, offered 
Himself. (Heb. 9: 14.) 

In Exodus 12 : 3-6 it was decreed that the 
Passover lamb must be slain on the fourteenth 
day of the month Abib. Jesus, the real Passover 
Lamb, in the 2d verse of our chapter, points 
out that He must be slain on that particular day. 
"After two days" He must be crucified. His 
enemies, in verse 5, said it must not be during 
the feast (R. V.) lest there be an uproar among 
the people; but He knew better than they, for 
He knew the Word of God and that the Scrip- 
ture could not be broken. In verse 12 He recog- 
nizes the anointing as for His burial. In verses 
24, 31 He shows that "it is written" is a suf- 
ficient reason for expecting it to come to pass. 
His spirit of willing sacrifice is shown through- 
out the story. "Let us be going" * * * "Thus 
it must be" * * * "That the Scriptures might 
be fulfilled" * * * "Jesus held His peace." 

Man's responsibility in rejecting and slaying 
the Son of God is not lessened in any way by the 
revelation of the sovereignty of God. True, He 



THE STRUGGLE IN THE GARDEN. 301 

was "delivered by the determinate counsel and 
foreknowledge of God/' but it was "by wicked 
hands" that He was taken, and crucified, and 
slain. (Acts 2:23.) When men killed the 
Prince of Glory, they did it ignorantly, but it 
was wilful ignorance — they would not have God's 
Man to reign over them. It is a fearful thing, 
to have the Word of God in one's hands, and to 
be wilfully ignorant of it. For they that dwelt 
at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they 
knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the Proph- 
ets, which were read every Sabbath day, ful- 
filled them in condemning Him. And though 
they found no cause of death in Him, yet desired 
they Pilate that He should be slain. And when 
they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, 
they took Him down from the tree, and laid 
Him in a sepulchre (Acts 13:27-29.) Men are 
responsible, not only for what they know, but 
also for what they ought to know. 

The Struggle in the Garden 

The Lord Jesus in Gethsemane is seen in a 
fierce conflict with the enemy, who seeks to kill 
Him in the garden, and prevent His death on the 
Cross. Jesus' prayer for the cup to pass from 
Him was a petition to be delivered from death 
in the garden, and to be permitted to reach the 
Cross of Cavalry. If the Scriptures were to be 
fulfilled, He must die indeed, but it must be not 
in the garden, but on the Cross. His prayer was 
answered. He "was heard, in that He feared." 



302 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

A comparison of certain passages in the 
Psalms and the Epistle to the Hebrews will make 
this matter clear. In Heb. 5 : 5-10 we read of 
Jesus, the Priest for ever after the order of 
Melchizedek, "Who in the days of His flesh, 
having offered up prayers and supplications with 
strong crying and tears unto Him that was able 
to save Him from death, and having been heard 
for His godly fear, though He were a Son, yet 
learned obedience by the things which He suf- 
fered ; and having been made perfect, He became 
unto all them that obey Him the Author of eter- 
nal salvation ; named of God a High Priest after 
the order of Melchizedek. ,, 

In Heb. 1 : 8, 9, the Father is heard addressing 
the Son and saying, "Thy throne, O God, is 
for ever and ever; and the scepter of upright- 
ness is the scepter of Thy Kingdom. Thou hast 
loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; there- 
fore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the 
oil of gladness above Thy fellows." This is 
taken from the 45th Psalm, and we thus learn 
for a certainty that this Psalm is Messianic. 
Reading further in Hebrews 1 — verses 10-12- — 
we hear the voice of the Father, still addressing 
the Son, and saying, "Thou, Lord, in the begin- 
ning didst lay the foundation of the earth, and 
the heavens are the works of Thy hands: they 
shall perish: but Thou continuest: and they all 
shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a man- 
tle shalt Thou roll them up as a garment, and 



THE STRUGGLE IN THE GARDEN. 303 

they shall be changed; but Thou art the same, 
and Thy years shall not fail." 

Now, turning to the I02d Psalm, whence these 
words are quoted, we may be surprised to learn 
the true meaning of the Psalm, as revealed by the 
Holy Spirit's use of it in Hebrews 1. We might 
suppose, for instance, that the words of the 
Psalm were words of David addressed to God 
the Father. But from the Spirit's own exposi- 
tion of a portion of the Psalm, we find that we 
have here a conversation between the Father and 
the Son. And there can be little doubt, after 
careful study, that we have in this Psalm the 
conversation which passed between the Father 
and the Son during the struggle in Gethsemane. 
In verse 24, the Son, in His awful agony, sweat- 
ing as it were great drops of blood, and feeling 
His very life going from Him, cries out, "O my 
God, take me not away in the midst of my days/' 
And then comes the answer from the Father: 
"Thy years are throughout all generations. Of 
old didst Thou lay the foundation of the earth; 
and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. 
They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; yea, 
all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a 
vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall 
be changed; but Thou art the same, and Thy 
years shall have no end." 

Taking these scriptures together, and com- 
paring them with Heb. 5, above quoted, it seems 
clear that the cup from which our Lord sought 
and obtained deliverance, was the death which 



304 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

threatened Him in the garden. He had set His 
face as a flint towards the Cross, and when Satan 
met Him and sought to kill Him, and thus thwart 
the very purpose of God in sending His Son 
into the world, He cried out to Him that was 
able to save Him from death, and was heard, 
for His godly fear. 

The Backsliding Disciple 

Simon Peter's backsliding was a fair example 
of all backsliding. There were seven steps in 
it, for it was complete. His restoration, which 
is not described in Matthew, was also complete, 
consisting of seven steps upward, and it was as 
typical as his fall. 

The Seven Steps Downward 

First step — Boastfulness. (Matt. 26:33-35.) 
Peter claimed to love Jesus more than all others. 
Whenever a Christian boasts of his own love for 
the Lord, or of his own attainments in spiritual 
things, comparing himself with others to their 
detriment, he is in a dangerous position; the 
backsliding has already begun. 

Second step — Unwatchfulness. (Matt. 26: 
40.) Boastfulness leads logically to this second 
step, for the need of watchfulness does not ap- 
pear to the boastful man. He is one who "think- 
eth he standeth," and fails to "take heed lest he 
fall." 

Third step — Prayerlessness. (Matt. 26:41- 
45.) If there be no need to watch, neither is 



THE SEVEN STEPS DOWNWARD. 305 

there need to pray. Watching and praying go 
together. 

Fourth step — Fleshly service. (Matt. 26: 51 ; 
John 18: 10.) When a Christian is backslidden, 
and thus out of fellowship with God, he is very 
apt to try to make up for this lack by fleshly ac- 
tivity — by "doing something for the Lord." Of 
course, there can be no acceptable service which 
is not "in the Spirit," and so long as there is 
interrupted fellowship there can be no service 
except "in the flesh." No doubt, Peter drew 
his sword thinking he was doing God service. 
But it was not such service that God wanted of 
him, but rather the offering of a contrite heart. 
The prodigal son of Luke 15 made the same mis- 
take, thinking to ask his father to make him one 
of the hired servants, when what the father 
wanted was not another servant, but his son, 
back in the home again, and sweet fellowship 
with him. 

Fifth step — Following afar off. (Matt. 26: 
58, cp. Eph. 2: 13.) We were afar off, but we 
have been made nigh. When we are in fellow- 
ship with Him, walking in the light as He is in 
the light, our consciences are purged, and we are 
enabled to draw nigh, even to come boldly. To 
follow afar off is to take a place of separation 
from Him, whereas His purpose for us is that 
we should occupy a place of separation from all 
things else, and unto Him. 

Sixth step — Fellowship with the Lord's en- 
emies. (Matt. 26:69; Luke 22:55.) Simon 



306 SIMP LB STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

Peter was uncomfortable, as every child of God 
in a backslidden condition is uncomfortable and 
unhappy, distressed and dissatisfied. And Peter 
made the usual mistake of seeking to obtain com- 
fort among the enemies of his Lord. He sought 
to get warm by a fire they had kindled. Doubt- 
less he heard there many things said against His 
Master, but his lips were sealed. The backslid- 
den Christian is without a testimony for God, 
because he is not walking with God. And not 
only does he know it, but so also do his neigh- 
bors. His mouth is closed. 

Seventh step — Open denial. (Matt. 26:70- 
75.) Three times, and with oaths and curses 
upon his lips, did this poor, unhappy child of 
God deny his Lord, even as He had forewarned 
him. Denial, in some measure, is the sure end 
of all backsliding. Indeed, it may almost be said 
that denial is the beginning of backsliding as 
well as its encj, for as a matter of fact, back- 
sliding, in its essence, is denial of our Lord. If 
Peter had not begun with denying the Lord's 
testimony of the danger in his pathway, he might 
have been saved the bitterness at the end of that 
pathway. 

But, thanks be unto God, He is our Strong 
Deliverer. It was needful to let Peter have his 
own way until he should learn that his way was 
the wrong way. And yet, all the time, the Lord 
was at work restoring His sinning disciple, even 
before the outward signs of backsliding had be- 
gun. "If any man sin, we have an Advocate/' 



THE SEVEN STEPS UPWARD. 307 

and He knows the end from the beginning, and 
does not wait for our sins to appear: He began 
to pray for Peter before Peter had taken his 
first step downward, for He saw the danger 
ahead, which Peter refused to see. Notice the 
seven steps upward — the complete restoration: 

The Seven Steps Upward 

First step — The Intercession of Christ. 
(Luke 22: 31, 32.) "I have prayed for thee." 

Second step — The look of Christ. (Luke 22: 
61.) Oh, the pity in that look! Oh, the love in 
it! And oh, the power of it! It did much to 
restore unhappy Peter. "He went out and wept 
bitterly." 

Third step — The message from Christ. 
(Mark 16: 7.) "Tell His disciples— and Peter." 
He knoweth His own sheep by name — the sick 
ones as well as the others — and He is of great 
compassion. He had died for Peter: should He 
now let him go ? He had been delivered for 
Peter's offenses — and doubtless they were many 
— and He had been raised for Peter's justifica- 
tion: how could He let him go? He could not, 
and He did not. "And Peter!" What a gra- 
cious message for Simon's ears! The joy of 
it — that message from Christ! 

Fourth step — The interview with Christ. 
(Lu. 24: 34; 1 Cor. 15 : 3-5.) It has to come to 
this sooner or later in the case of every back- 
slidden saint— and the sooner, the better. There 



308 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

is nothing like a personal "talk with Jesus, to 
smooth the rugged road/' 

Fifth step — Open confession. (John 21 : 15- 
17.) This was threefold, and corresponds to the 
threefold open denial. Peter had begun with a 
boast that he loved Jesus more than all the dis- 
ciples besides him. And now the question must 
be answered — "Lovest thou Me more than 
these ?" All boasting is excluded from Peter's 
answers, and fellowship is restored. 

Sixth step — Peter restored to his work. 
(John 21 : 15-17.) "Feed My lambs . . . Tend 
My sheep. . .Feed My sheep." 

.Seventh step — Back to the starting point. 
(John 21 : 18, 19.) "Follow Me." Thus does 
He perfectly restore. "What a wonderful Sav- 
iour !" 

The Coming Glory 

In verses 27 to 29 the Lord Jesus was made 
the butt of ridicule, and insults were heaped 
upon Him, in connection with His rightful title, 
"The King of the Jews." In verse 37 the in- 
scription provided by Pilate is given — "This is 
Jesus, the King of the Jews." In verse 64 the 
enemies of Jesus sought to prevent the dawning 
of the coming glory which would demonstrate 
His right to the title of royalty. 

But all their efforts failed. God hath highly 
exalted Him and He will yet be manifested as 
King of the Jews not only, but as the King over 
all the earth, the King of Kings and Lord of 



THE COMING GLORY. 309 

Lords. His sufferings are past and His glory 
will surely be revealed. Of this we are reminded 
every time we sit together at His memorial table 
1 — "For as often as ye eat this bread and drink 
the cup, ye proclaim the Lord's death till He 
come." 

"Draw nigh, draw nigh, Immanuel, 
That mourns in lonely exile here, 
Until the Son of God appear. 

And ransom captive Israel 
"Draw nigh, O Jesse's Rod, draw nigh, 
To free us from the enemy; 
From Hell's abyss Thy people save, 
And given us vict'ry o'er the grave. 

"Draw nigh, draw nigh, O Morning Star, 
And bring us comfort from afar! 
And banish far from us the gloom 
Of sinful night and endless doom. 

"Draw nigh, draw nigh, O Lord of Might, 
The Heav'nly gate unfolds to Thee. 
Make safe the way that leads on high, 
And close the path to misery. 

"Draw nigh, draw nigh, O Lord of Might, 
Who to Thy tribes from Sinai's height, 
In ancient time didst give the Law, 
In cloud of majesty and awe. 

"Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel 
Shall come to thee, O Israel!" 



THE KING'S GREAT SACRIFICE 



Chapter 27 



On a tombstone in an English graveyard there 
is this inscription, bearing the date, 1657: 

"I dare not work, my soul to save: 
That work the Lord hath done. 
But I will work like any slave 
For love of God's dear Son." 

This ought to be the thought of every man 
who studies the 27th chapter of Matthew, where 
God's dear Son is seen lifted up on the Cross, 
and drawing all men unto Himself. 

The person of Jesus is the theme of all Scrip- 
ture. He is "the Truth/' the center and cir- 
cumference of the whole circle of revelation. 
"The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of proph- 
ecy." 

But, strictly speaking, as Dr. Pierson has said, 
the scheme of revelation in the Word of God is 
elliptical rather than circular. There are, when 
thus viewed, two centers, around which all re- 
volves. The first is "the sufferings of Christ" 
— the Cross of Calvary. The second is "the 
glory that shall follow" — His Second Advent. 
(See 1 Peter 1 : 10, 11.) 

The Lord Jesus Christ, in His two Advents, 
is the great Heart of the Scriptures, and their 

310 



THE SCRIPTURES FULFILLED. 311 

chief end is to make Him known. The incarnate 
Word is unfolded in the written Word. 

The poverty of riches is a real embarrassment 
in any attempt to expound this chapter. Every- 
thing converges here. The Cross is the anti- 
type of many Old Testament types and symbols : 
for example, the brazen altar, the pole uphold- 
ing the brazen serpent, the door-post and lintel 
of the Passover, etc., etc. Our Lord is the Burnt- 
Offering, the Peace-Offering, the Meal-Offering, 
the Sin-Offering, the Trespass-Offering. There 
are three elements in every offering: the Priest, 
the offerer and the sacrifice itself. Jesus was all 
these, as here He, through the Eternal Spirit, 
offered Himself, without spot, to God. 

The Scriptures Fulfilled 

This chapter contains seven quotations from 
the Old Testament. The first is in verses 9, 10, 
where the words quoted are attributed to Jere- 
miah. These words are not found in the Book 
of Jeremiah in its present form, but similar lan- 
guage is in Zechariah, chapter 11, verses 12, 13. 
The ancient Syriac and Persian versions of 
Matthew omit the name of Jeremiah, as well as 
some of the Greek manuscripts. It is supposed, 
however, by some scholars that chapters 9, 10 
and 11 of Zechariah were written by Jeremiah, 
and from Jerome we learn that there was still 
extant in his time an apocryphal book of the 
prophet Jeremiah, in which was found every let- 
ter of the words quoted by Matthew. The 



312 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

Second Book of the Maccabees also contain many 
words of Jeremiah. (But see Jer. 18: 1-4; 19: 

1-3.) 

The second quotation in our chapter is in 
verse 34. (Compare Psalm 69:21.) The third 
in verse 35 (Psalm 22: 18) ; the fourth in verse 
39 (Ps. 22:7; 109:25); the fifth in verse 43 
(Ps. 22: 8) ; the sixth in verse 46 (Ps. 22: 1) ; 
the seventh in verse 48 ( Ps. 69:21). 

Yet other Scriptures were also fulfilled, though 
not specially cited here. (See verses 2, 12-14, 
26-31, 35, and compare with Isaiah, 53d chap- 
ter.) 

The Seven Words From the Cross 

These seven sayings of our suffering Saviour 
are gathered from the four Gospel records. 

1. "Father, forgive them, for they know not 
what they do." (Luke 23:34.) 

2. "Woman, behold thy son... Behold thy 
mother." (John 19:26, 27.) 

3. "Verily, I say unto thee, To-day shalt 
thou be with Me in Paradise." (Luke 23 : 43.) 

4. "Eli! Eli! Lama Sabachthani." (Matt. 
27:46; Mark 15:34.) 

5. "I thirst!" (John 19: 28.) This "that the 
Scripture might be fulfilled." (Ps. 69:21.) 

6. "Father, into Thy hands I commend My 
spirit." (Luke 23:46.) 

7. "It is finished!" (John 19:30.) 

Each of these sayings is perfectly in keeping 
with the particular Gospel containing it. Mat- 



THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. 313 

thew writes of Jesus as the Son of Abraham; 
Mark as the Servant of God; Luke as the Son 
of Man, and John as the Son of God. As An- 
drew Jukes has so beautifully put it, "Abra- 
ham's Son may cry 'My God ! My God ! Why 
hast Thou forsaken Me?' The Servant of God 
may also cry with a loud voice and give up the 
ghost. The Son of Man may say, 'Father, into 
Thy hands I commend My spirit/ But of the 
Son of the Father we read, 'After this, Jesus, 
knowing that all things were now accomplished, 
saith, "I thirst!'' Then, when He had received 
the vinegar, He said, "It is finished !" and bowed 
His head, and 'yielded up the spirit.' As the 
Eternal Son, He need not 'commend Himself 
to God. His own 'It is finished,' seals with a 
sufficient witness the full accomplishment of His 
own perfect work." 

"When He from His lofty throne 

Stooped down to do and die, 
Everything was fully done. 

Hearken to His cry, 
'It is finished !' Yes, indeed, 

Finished every jot! 
Sinner, this is all you need! 

Tell me, is it not?" 

From a comparison of Psalm 40 : 6-8 with He- 
brews 10:5-9, we learn that the Lord Jesus' 
word to the Father as He departed from heaven 
to lay down His life in the earth was, "Lo, I 
come, to do Thy will, O God !" 

His first recorded utterance on earth was "I 
must be about My Father's business/' 



314 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

And His last words before yielding up the 
ghost upon the Cross were, "It is finished!" 

It was His Father's will that He through death 
should deliver them who through fear of death 
were all their lifetime subject to bondage. He 
died for us! Saving others, He could not save 
Himself. In this sense His enemies' words in 
verse 42 are true. 

"I believe! I believe ! And I know it is done! 
That my sins are all pardoned — yes, every one! 
That the finished salvation by Christ on the tree 
Has wrought out deliverance, even for me!" 

All this is emphasized by the signs attending 
the crucifixion of our Lord — the darkness, the 
rent veil and the opened graves "after His res- 
urrection." 

Josephus says the veil in the Temple was thir- 
ty feet high and that two teams of oxen whipped 
in opposite directions could not have torn it. 
And yet it was rent in twain, from top to bottom. 
(See Heb. 10:19-22; compare 9:8.) It was 
a type of His flesh. Under the Law it was death 
for a sinner to enter the Holy of Holies through 
the veil. Under grace it is death to remain with- 
out. "Let us draw near!" 

" 'It is finished !' So that never 

Can it more than finished be. 
Finished once and finished ever: 

Nothing can undo the plea. 
'Finished !' Always, all, complete! 
'Finished!' Is there word more sweet? 






THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. 315 

11 'It is finished !' Uncompleted, 

Everything I try to do; 
'It is finished !' Unrepeated : 

Nothing left to add thereto. 
'It is finished!' God has told it! 
'It is finished !' Man, behold it ! 
'Finished !' Pleasing to God's mind, 
'Finished !' Here I resting find. 

" 'It is finished' and completed ! 

Not the work within my soul; 
Not the teaching, oft-repeated; 

But the touch that makes me whole. 
'It is finished!' God has said it! 
'It is finished!' Faith has read it! 
'Finished' and completed, all 
That redeems from Adam's fall! 

" 'It is finished' and completed ! 

All God's purposes of grace; 
Therefore is the Worker seated 

In the heavenly resting-place. 
'It is finished!' Christ hath done it! 
'It is finished !' Christ hath won it ! 
'Finished!' Failing heart, be glad! 
'Finished !' I can nothing add." 



THE KING'S TRIUMPH 



Chapter 28 



The Resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the 

great fundamental doctrine of Christianity, and 
the pledge and guaranty of our own resurrec- 
tion. It has been called "the best authenticated 
great event of history." And it is well that it is 
so, for everything depends upon it, and without 
it we should be even as others who have no 
hope. 

The Resurrection of our Lord was demanded 
by many Old Testament types and symbols, such 
as Aaron's rod that budded, the wave-sheaf of 
the firstfruits, and many others. It was also de- 
manded by explicit Old Testament prophecies 
and promises. (Compare Ps. 16: 8-10 with Acts 
2:22-36.) And it was demanded also by our 
Lord's own oft-repeated predictions. Over and 
over again He told His little band of followers 
that He was going to Jerusalem to be crucified 
and that He would rise again after three days. 

But they did not believe it. When the cruci- 
fixion had really taken place, they were so over- 
whelmed with grief and dismay that they appar- 
ently forgot all about His promise to rise from 
the dead; and when He did break the bands of 
death, there was no one who believed it. Luke 
tells us (ch. 24: 1-11) that when the women ran 

316 



THE KING'S TRIUMPH. 317 

to bring the disciples word, "their words seemed 
to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. ,, 

All this is omitted from Matthew's account, 
for it is not fitting that the King's word should 
be doubted. And yet there seems to be a sug- 
gestion of rebuke in the words of the angel who 
had rolled away the stone, revealing the empty 
tomb, and who said unto the women: "Fear not 
ye; for I know that ye seek Jesus, Who hath 
been crucified. He is not here ; for He is risen, 
even as He said. Come, see the place where 
the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell His dis- 
ciples, He is risen from the dead; and lo, He 
goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see 
Him : lo, I have told you." 

"Even as He said." May the Lord help us 
to enter into the meaning of that word ! Oh, 
how much He has said to us ! And how little of 
it we really believe in such a way as to make it 
practical in our daily life and testimony! The- 
oretically, perhaps, we believe Him ; but we need 
to learn, practically, that His simple word is the 
surest thing in the universe. And, sooner or 
later, we shall find that everything will come to 
pass, "even as He said." 

There is great need of teaching and preaching 
the Resurrection of Jesus. This was the key- 
note of the preaching of the Apostles and early 
disciples, and the blessing of God followed their 
testimony unto "Jesus and the Resurrection." 

We are not called upon to prove the Resurrec- 
tion by human argument or logical processes. We 



318 SIMPLE STUDIES IN .MATTHEW. 

are to preach it ; it will prove itself — or, rather, 
the Holy Spirit of Truth will prove it, for He 
is here for the express purpose of glorifying the 
Lord Jesus in the minds of men, and to convict 
the world of sin, because they believe not on 
Him. (John 16: 7-1 1.) 

The best proof of the Resurrection of the 
Lord Jesus is a real Christian. It has been 
well said that "just as the literal Resurrection 
of the body of Jesus was an evidence of the di- 
vine power of God, so the living energy of the 
members of His mystical body is a testimony to 
the world of His risen life/" We are witnesses 
of these things. 

"Have you read the Gospel ?" was asked of an 
eminent Chinese scholar. 

"No," he replied. "I have not read it, but I 
have seen it." 

The Resurrection Discovered 

Let it be remembered that no human eye saw 
the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. That 
was for God alone. It was enough for man that 
he should see the empty grave — "the place where 
the Lord lay." Precisely when the Resurrec- 
tion took place, is not revealed; we only know 
that it was sometime between sunset on Satur- 
day evening and sunrise on Sunday morning. It 
is certain that He was in the heart of the earth 
for three days and three nights, for He Him- 
self said it should be so. (Matt. 12:40.) And 
though men say He was crucified on "Good Fri- 



MEETING WITH THE RISEN LORD. 319 

day" and rose on "Easter Sunday," we shall all 
finally discover that He knew the end from the 
beginning, and that it all came out "even as He 
said." 

The End of the Sabbath 

The Resurrection of Jesus was "in the end of 
the Sabbath/' in a double sense, for the Sab- 
bath was abolished by it, and there has never 
been a Sabbath since He came forth from the 
tomb. Strictly speaking, there is no Sabbath 
now, and to refer to the Lord's day, or any 
other day, as "the Christian Sabbath," is un- 
scriptural, and results from a failure to "rightly 
divide the Word of Truth." We are not under 
the Law, but under grace. (Ro. 6: 14.) "The 
ministration of death, written and engraven in 
stones," has given place to "the ministration of 
the spirit." Instead of "the ministration of 
condemnation," we have to do with "the minis- 
tration of righteousness." And "if that which 
is done away was glorious, much more that 
which remaineth is glorious." (2 Cor. 3.) 

Meeting With the Risen Lord 

When, with mingled feelings "of fear and 
great joy," the women had started to tell the dis- 
ciples about the empty grave, "behold, Jesus 
met them, saying, 'All hail !' " And when they 
took hold of His feet and worshipped Him, still 
torn doubtless by doubt as to the evidence of 
their own senses, He said unto them, "Fear not : 



320 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

go tell My brethren that they depart into Galilee, 
and there shall they see Me." 

How very simple, and how very beautiful! 
And He is not ashamed to call us "brethren," 
though our poor hearts doubt Him, even after 
all these years of "many infallible proofs." 

The Enemy's Lie 

The device of the Chief Priests and Elders 
was a very clumsy one. It seems hardly worthy 
of Satan, who is a liar from the beginning, and 
the father of lies. How could the guards be 
expected to know what had transpired while 
they slept? 

The Great Commission 

There is no account of the Ascension in Mat- 
thew, for it is apart from his purpose as set- 
ting forth the Kingship of Jesus. His departure 
into a far country did not necessitate His abdi- 
cation, nor the appointment of a regency, for, 
though invisible to His people, He yet declared 
that He should be with them always. He is Im- 
manuel, "God with us." Let us remember His 
own promise : "Lo, I am with you all the days, 
even to the Consummation of the Age." 

The disciples' work, as outlined in "The Great 
Commission," was threefold: 

First — Make disciples of all the nations. 

Second — Baptizing them into the Name o 
the Father and of the Son and of the Hob 
Spirit 



"IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS." 321 

Third — Teaching them to observe all things 
whatsoever the Lord Jesus had commanded them. 

"In the Name of the Lord Jesus" 

It seems, at first sight, a surprising thing to 
find that, beginning with Pentecost, which was 
but a few days after "The Great Commission ,, 
was given, and down to the end of the New 
Testament history of the Church, all the bap- 
tisms recorded were simply "into the Name of 
the Lord Jesus," instead of "into the Name of 
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy 
Spirit." (See Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19: 
5.) In seeking an explanation, it is well to re- 
member that the Trinitarian formula is found 
only in Matthew, the Kingdom Gospel. The 
full accomplishment of "The Great Commis- 
sion," therefore, may be looked for in the future, 
in connection with the manifestation of the King- 
dom, rather than during the present Dispensa- 
tion in connection with the Church of God. 

The purpose of God in this present time, by 
means of the ministry of the Church, is not to 
"disciple the nations," but rather to "take out 
of them a people for His Name." And accord- 
ing to His revealed program, it is only "after 
this" is accomplished that He "will return," 
and the "residue of men shall seek after the 
Lord, and all the nations," upon whom His 
Name is called. (Acts 15 : 14-17.) 

In the meantime, the Church of God, which 



322 SI MP LB STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

Matthew's Gospel of the Kingdom does not 
contemplate here, is to witness for Christ "unto 
the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 1 : 8.) 
And wherever and whenever men shall turn unto 
the Lord, they are to be baptized "into the Name 
of the Lord Jesus," in Whom dwelleth all the 
fullness of the Godhead bodily. This is the key 
to this present Dispensation of the Mystery, 
"that in all things He might have the pre-emi- 
nence." 

The Church of God is the body of Christ, the 
fullness of Him. (Eph. 1:23.) Every Chris- 
tian — that is, everyone born again by the power 
of the Holy Spirit — every Christian is a mem- 
ber of His body. This vital union with the risen 
and glorified Lord is accomplished by what the 
New Testament calls the baptism of the Holy 
Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 12:12, 13, this won- 
derful transaction is set forth. 

"For as the body is one, and hath many mem- 
bers, and all the members, of the body, being 
many, are one body; so also is Christ. For in 
one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, 
whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; 
and were all made to drink of one Spirit." 

This is the baptism referred to in Galatians 
3:27, 28: 

"For as many of you as were baptized into 
Christ did put on Christ. There can be neither 
Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor 
free, there can be no male and female; for ye 
all are one in Christ Jesus." 



"IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS." 323 

Now the reason for water baptism is to show 
forth, as in a type, this Spirit baptism. It is 
the "outward and visible sign of an inward and 
spiritual grace." There can be no other Scrip- 
tural warrant for it. There is no saving effi- 
cacy in water baptism. But it is important, nev- 
ertheless, for we are bidden to be baptized, and 
He has His own purpose in thus commanding 
us. As Romans 6 : 3, 4, has it : 

"Or are ye ignorant that all we who were 
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into 
His death? We were buried therefore with 
Him through baptism into death: that like as 
Christ was raised from the dead through the 
glory of the Father, so we also might walk in 
newness of life/* 

The members of the body of Christ may freely 
admit that in them, that is in their flesh, dwell- 
eth no good thing (Ro. 7: 18), but they rejoice 
that "in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the 
Godhead bodily," and their completeness is in 
Him, "Who is the Head of all Principality and 
Power: in Whom they were also circumcised 
with a circumcision not made with hands, . . . 
having been buried with Him in baptism, where- 
in they were also raised with Him through faith 
in the working of God, Who raised Him from 
the dead." (Col. 2:8-12.) 

"He is before all things, and in Him all things 
hold together. And He is the Head of the body, 
the Church : Who is the beginning, the firstborn 
from the dead ; that in all things He might have 



324 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

the pre-eminence. For it was the good pleasure 
of the Father that in Him should all fullness 
dwell ; and through Him to reconcile all things 
unto Himself. " (Col. i : 17-20.) 

"And He put all things in subjection under 
His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all 
things to the Church, which is His body, the 
fullness of Him that filleth all in .all." (Eph. 1 : 
22, 23.) 

It is fitting that those who have been baptized 
"into Jesus Christ," by the Spirit of God, should 
be baptized in water, according to His command, 
"into the Name of the Lord Jesus." Having 
"put on Christ," it is also their privilege to put 
on His Name. And this is exactly what oc- 
curred in the household of Cornelius, as de- 
scribed in the tenth chapter of Acts : 

"While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy 
Spirit fell on all them that heard the word. . . . 
Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid the 
water, that these should not be baptized, who 
have received the Holy Spirit as well as we? 
And he commanded them to be baptized in the 
name of Jesus Christ." (Vs. 44-48.) 

On the great Day of Pentecost, in his address 
to the Jews (Acts 2), this same Peter had said 
unto them: 

"Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you 
in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission 
of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of 
the Holy Spirit. . . . They then that received 
his word were baptized: and there were added 



"IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS/' 325 

in that day about three thousand souls." (Vs. 

38-41.) 

Again, in the 8th chapter of Acts it is written : 

"Now when the Apostles that were at Jeru- 
salem heard that Samaria had received the Word 
of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: 
who, when they were come down, prayed for 
them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit: 
for as yet it was fallen upon none of them : only 
they had been baptized into the name of the 
Lord Jesus. Then laid they their hands on 
them, and they received the Holy Spirit/' (Vs. 

14-17.) 

Peter's presence was needed, for reasons ex- 
plained in connection with the 16th chapter. The 
water baptism, "into the name of the Lord 
Jesus," was according to the mind of God, and 
when the other conditions were met, the gift of 
the Holy Spirit was the answer of God. 

In the 19th chapter of Acts there is another 
case bearing upon our question: 

"And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was 
at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper 
country came to Ephesus, and found certain dis- 
ciples : and he said unto them, Did ye receive 
the Holy Spirit when ye believed? And they 
said unto him, Nay, we did not so much as hear 
whether the Holy Spirit was given. And he 
said, Into what then were ye baptized? And 
they said, Into John's baptism. And Paul said, 
John baptized with the baptism of repentance, 
saying unto the people that they should believe 



326 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

on Him that should come after him, that is, on 
Jesus. And when they heard this, they were 
baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 
And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, 
the Holy Spirit came on them. ,, (Vs. 1-6.) 

A careful examination of the entire record 
seems to leave little room for doubt that the 
original Apostolic method was to administer 
baptism "into the name of the Lord Jesus." 
This seems to be implied also in Paul's rebuke of 
sectarianism in the Corinthian Church: 

"Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for 
you? Or were ye baptized into the name of 
Paul?" (i Cor. 1:13.) 

And this is entirely in keeping with the gen- 
eral principle for the guidance of the Church, 
laid down in Col. 3:17: 

"And whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, 
do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving 
thanks to God the Father through Him." 

It is declared in Philippians 2:9-11 that God 
has decreed that His Son, Who at His First Ad- 
vent "made himself of no reputation," shall one 
day be the acknowledged Lord of the Universe : 

"God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him 
the name which is above every name ; that in the 
name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things 
in heaven and things on earth and things under 
the earth, and that every tongue should confess 
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God 
the Father." 

The name of the Lord is indeed a strong 



"IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS." 327 

tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. 
And in the glad time that is coming, when there 
shall be no more curse, His servants shall serve 
Him, and they shall see His face, and His name 
shall be on their foreheads. (Prov. 18: 10; Rev. 
22:3, 40 

"Jesus ! Jesus ! Jesus ! 

Sing aloud the Name; 
Till it softly, slowly, 
Sets all hearts aflame. 

"Jesus ! Name of cleansing, 

Washing all our stains; 
Jesus ! Name of healing, 
Balm for all our pains. 

"Jesus! Name of boldness, — 

Making cowards brave; 
Name that in the battle, 
Certainly must save. 

"Jesus ! Name of vict'ry, 
Stretching far away, 
Right across Earth's war-fields, 
To the plains of day. 

"Jesus! Name of beauty, 

Beauty far too bright 

For our Earth-born fancy, 

For our mortal sight. 

"Jesus! be our joy-note 
In this vale of tears; 
Till we reach the Home-land, 
And th* eternal years." 



328 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 
"Even to the End of the Age" 

When shall it be— "the End of the Age?" 
When shall the King return, to "take His great 
power and reign?" Who can tell? No one can 
tell the time, for it is one of the secret things 
which belong to God. And yet — 

"I do not think it can be long 

Till in His glory He appear: 
And yet I dare not name the day, 

Nor fix the solemn Advent year. 
I only know that He is near, 

And that His voice I soon shall hear." 

Recent dispatches from the east bring the 
news that the Turkish government is seeking to 
induce the Jews to settle in the land of Pales- 
tine. And this happens just as the persecutions 
in Russia are becoming intolerable and the peo- 
ple of Israel are looking in every direction for an 
asylum. With the doors opened into the Holy 
Land, there has begun a stream of immigration 
into that land which promises to bring millions 
of the Covenant People back to their home to 
make ready for the final scenes at the End of 
the Age. 

The fig tree is putting forth its leaves: the 
summer is nigh ! Our ears are strained for the 
shout of the Lord Himself, with the trump of 
God and the voice of the Archangel; for the 
End-time cannot come until the Church is re- 
moved from the earth. 

And what a joy it will be when He shall re- 



"EVEN TO THE END OF THE AGE/' 329 

turn, at the End of the Age, with His saints, to 
set up the throne of David and usher in the 
Kingdom of Righteousness ! What a glad day 
when, the judgment past, and Satan restrained 
for the Thousand Years, our Lord shall reign 
as the blessed and only Potentate, the King of 
Kings and Lord of Lords ! May He hasten it 
in His time ! 



"They come and go, the seasons fair, 

And bring their spoil to vale and hills ; 

But there is waiting in the air, 
And a glad Hope the spirit fills : 

Why doth He tarry, the absent Lord? 

When shall the Kingdom be restored? 

And Earth and Heaven, with one accord, 

Ring out the cry that the King comes ! 

"The floods have lifted up their voice: 
The King hath come unto His own! 

The little vales and hills rejoice, 
His right it is to take the crown. 

Sleepers, awake, and meet Him first! 

Now let the marriage-hymn outburst! 

And powers of darkness flee dispersed. 
What will it be when the King comes? 

"A ransomed Earth breaks forth in song, 
Her sin-stained ages overpast: 

Her yearning, Lord, how long — how long?' 
Exchanged for joy at last — at last. 

Angels will carry His commands; 

Peace beameth forth in all the lands; 

Trees of the field shall clap their hands — 
What will it be when the King comes? 



330 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW. 

"Now Zion's hill, with glory crowned, 
Uplifts her head with joy once more: 

And Zion's King, once scorned, disowned, 
Extends her rule from shore to shore. 

Sing ! for the Land her Lord regains ! 

Sing! for the Son of David reigns! 

And living streams o'erflow her plains — 
What will it be when the King comes? 

"O brothers, stand as men that wait; 

The dawn is purpling in the East; 
And banners wave from Heaven's high gate: 

The conflict now, but soon the feast! 
Mercy and Truth shall meet again: 
Worthy the Lamb that once was slain! 
We suffer now — He'll know us then — 

What will it be when the King comes?" 



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Simple 
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By 

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